The Competition Commission has welcomed the decision of the Competition Tribunal that called for the banks to be investigated over the manipulation of the rand.
The matter has been dragging on for several years since the commission signalled in 2017 that it wanted to investigate collusion between international and local banks on the rand/dollar exchange rate.
At the time the commission a number of banks from Europe, Australia, the US were involved in the manipulation of the currency.
From its initial probe the commission had found that the collusion had been going on for a number of years.
In the latest ruling the Competition Tribunal said this matter needed to be dealt with.
“The Tribunal ordered that all the banks must respond to the complaint referral by filing answering affidavits (in the main matter dealing with the merits of the case) within 40 business days of the Tribunal’s order.
“The Tribunal further ordered that if any of the banks still have an objection to the complaint referral, they should raise those objections as part of their answer(s) to the complaint referral and if the Commission wishes to reply, it must do so within 20 business days of the banks filing their answering affidavits,” said the commission.
“The decision by the Tribunal affirms the commission’s view that there is collusion that the banks must answer to. The prosecution of this matter has been going on since 2017 and the banks haven’t answered to the allegations against them. This decision provides the banks with an opportunity to do so,” said Doris Tshepe, of the Competition Commission.
Current Affairs