The Prudential Authority of the South African Reserve Bank announced on 7 November 2025 that it had imposed administrative sanctions on Discovery Bank Limited following a 2021 supervisory inspection that identified non-compliance with certain provisions of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, known as FICA. The sanctions comprise a financial penalty of R3 million, of which R1 million is conditionally suspended for 36 months from 9 July 2025.
Discovery Bank, the digital banking arm of the Discovery Group, was launched in South Africa in 2019.
FICA COMPLIANCE OBLIGATIONS AT ISSUE
FICA sets out the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations that all South African accountable institutions, including banks, are required to meet. These obligations encompass customer due diligence processes, the identification and verification of beneficial owners, the monitoring of transactions for suspicious activity, reporting to the Financial Intelligence Centre, and the maintenance of adequate records.
The PA found that Discovery Bank had failed to file 24 suspicious transaction reports on time, had not given required FICA training to a number of new and existing staff and senior managers, had not attended to 2,281 automated transaction-monitoring alerts within 48 hours, and had gaps in its Risk Management and Compliance Programme.
Discovery Bank said the inspection found no evidence of the bank being involved in or facilitating transactions related to money laundering or other illicit financial activities, and that all the findings had been identified and remediated before the inspection started.