​The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has imposed administrative sanctions onSociété Générale Johannesburg Branch(Société Générale) and Absa Bank Limited (Absa) and has directed the two banks to take remedial action. This was after the SARB conducted inspections in terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FIC Act) and foundweaknesses in Société Générale’s and Absa’s anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism control measures.TheFIC Act mandates the SARB to ensure that banks have adequate controls inplace to combat acts ofmoney laundering and the financing of terrorism. Flowing from these responsibilities, the SARB inspects banks to assess whether they have appropriate measures in place as required by the FIC Act. It should be noted that the administrative sanctions were not imposed because Société Générale or Absa were found to have facilitated transactions involving money laundering or the financing of terrorism but because of weaknesses in the banks’ control measures. The administrativesanctions are as follows: Société Générale: A financial penalty of R2 million and a directive to take remedial action in the following areas:identifying and verifying customers’ details (better known asknow-your-customer or KYC requirements);maintaining customer and transactional records as prescribedThe financial penalty is, however suspended, in terms of section 45C(4)(c) of the FIC Act, for a period of two (2) years from 27 October 2016, subject to Société Générale adhering to certain conditions imposed by the SARB. Absa:A financial penalty of R10 million and a directive to take remedial action in the following area:certain identified weaknesses in the bank’s controls and working methods pertaining to transaction monitoring.Société Générale and Absa are cooperating with the SARB and have taken measures to address the identified compliance deficiencies and control weaknesses.  Issued by: Jabulani Sikhakhane Head of Communicationsmedia@resbank.co.zaTel: +27 12 399 7432