Ithala CEO clarifies its status following suspension reports

Ithala Bank has sought to clarify its status after reports that the Financial Sector Conduct Authority suspended its licence last week.

The bank now says the authority has only suspended the licence of its subsidiary, Ithala SOC Limited which is an insurance broker.

Ithala SOC Limited apparently did not meet the specific financial requirements for financial service providers.

Ithala Development Finance Corporation CEO Pearl Bhengi says, “So what is happening here, it is not the banking licence we are talking about, it is the FSP licence. The FSP licence deals with insurances. What has been on the newspapers during the weekend is about the FSP license.”

“Ithala SOC has its own FSP licence that has been suspended for now… IDFC we do have our own FSP licence. Which then means as the holding company under the economic development we still do have our licence that our subsidiary can still use,” adds Bhengi.

Meanwhile, the KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development Department says it’s making efforts to assist the bank.

MEC Musa Zondi says, “We view it as a political problem as well which is why we are reaching out to national government as well, to the Finance Minister and eventually to the President as well. Eventually, these problems will be sorted out when the political interest of the national government are aligned with that of the provincial government.”

“After all, we are one government and we do not see a reason why one sphere should fail to cooperate with another sphere of government to operate without hindrance,” adds Zondi.

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