Viceroy Research which was this week slapped with a R50 million administrative fine by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has lashed out at the authority saying it “will not be a scapegoat”.
The FSCA imposed the administrative penalty after Viceroy published false, misleading or deceptive statements about retail bank Capitec in January 2018, and for failing to publish full and frank corrections.
However Viceroy said based on the investigation conducted, the FCSA avoided placing Capitec under any scrutiny.
“When reading the FSCA report presented to the Tribunal, you would be left wondering if the Capitec were a Grade A Credit reference agency, rather than the most expensive deposit-taking institution in the world whose loan book is almost exclusively unsecured loans to financially vulnerable demographics,” said Viceroy.
FSCA said in determining the penalty it took into account among other things the 23.12 percent plunge in Capitec’s share price.
BUSINESS REPORT