Executive officers must certify all statutory bank reporting returns
South African banks must submit a certified Form BA 099 with every statutory return, signed strictly by vetted executive officers or approved acting deputies. Circular C3/2026 reinforces individual accountability across eleven defined risk categories under the Banks Act.
Strict sign-offs across eleven risk domains
Every regulatory submission delivered by banks, foreign branches, and controlling companies must include a fully certified Form BA 099 across all daily, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual reporting cycles.
The Prudential Authority mandates that sign-offs be executed directly by the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Accounting Officer, and the officer overseeing compliance with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.
Crucially, any designated signatory must meet the statutory definition of an executive officer under section 1(1) of the Banks Act, 1990, covering direct reports to the CEO and heads of eleven distinct risk functions from solvency to technological and operational risk.
Deputies must hold individual regulatory clearance
Where an executive officer is unavailable, regulation 4(3) allows an acting official to certify returns only if that individual has passed the formal fit-and-proper assessment under regulation 42(1) via Form BA 020. The acting official must sign under an approved delegation of authority policy and state their normal office, rather than signing on behalf of the absent executive.
CEO Fundi Tshazibana affirmed that delegation must not erode executive accountability.
Banks and their independent auditors must return signed acknowledgements.
No hiding behind administrative proxies
Closing the proxy loophole prevents institutions from hiding reporting flaws behind administrative subordinates.
By tying statutory submissions strictly to vetted executives, the supervisor sharpens individual legal accountability.
This technical clarification effectively eliminates casual delegation in bank risk governance.