South Africa leads Basel preparations in Africa

Johannesburg -- South Africa is the only country in Africa that has so far made considerable strides in preparation for the adoption of the new Basel Accord, also known as Basel II, say African central banks and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). In South Africa, all 40 banks, including 13 international ones, will adopt Basel II when the accord is finalised, while most of the rest of Africa is still only discussing the accord at the regional level.

"We are committed to Basel II, and we support it wholeheartedly. We have been active in the implementation group of Basel II of the BIS in so far as accord-implementation committee meetings go. We have been attending the meetings," the registrar of banks at the South African Reserve Bank, Errol Kruger, told Operational Risk. "The top five banks (in terms of asset size) are our own, registered here, and represent about 88% of the total assets in the industry. All of them have to adopt Basel II."