Meeting the challenge of Basel II head on

The banking industry in South Africa is making good progress towards achieving compliance with Basel II. And it is getting strong support from its central bank

Errol Kruger, registrar of banks at the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), describes the preparations made by the country’s banking industry for Basel II as “a journey rather than a destination”.

The journey seems to have been relatively free of turbulence, in part reflecting the strength of the South African banking sector. As the IMF observed in an analysis published at the start of July: “All key macro-prudential indicators for South Africa’s financial system are at healthy levels and the