RECENTLY there have been several articles and reports, across the media, decrying banks’ practices and behaviour. Society’s disquiet about banks is not new, but appears to be on the increase, yet has received little or no attention from authorities.
Tito Mboweni’s recent revelations, carried in the local media, blaming banks for the collapse of the government’s Covid-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme, added to the already negative perceptions about banks.
Such news isn’t shocking to most citizens, perhaps only to President Cyril Ramaphosa who is said to have joined one of the meetings, only to have his plea for more lending rejected. His own organ of state, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), party to this guarantee scheme, is said to have instructed banks to lend as usual despite the once-in-a-century crisis.…
