'Big five' banks to appear before MPs over credit policies
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition will summon the country’s major commercial banks next year to explain their credit policies.
Committee chairperson Mzwandile Masina said the banks are FNB, Nedbank, Absa, Standard Bank, Capitec and Investec.
Masina briefed the media in Cape Town on Monday.
"If you look at major economies, they have a lot of banks, but in South Africa, we're limited for one reason or the other.
"And that creates an opportunity for some of the years that we have identified, banks decide in South Africa for no reason known to them to open and close their accounts.”
He said the banks have the power to say who can get credit and who cannot.
"They decide how much interest is paid and how much is not paid. They decide who gets credit, who doesn't get credit without explanation.
"So, we really will have to find a mechanism in which we can find each other on how best we can move South Africa forward because the cooperation of the financial sector is important if we're to grow the economy of South Africa.”
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