Lesson Introduction
The 2025 regulatory year marked a decisive shift in how financial regulation is applied, enforced, and experienced in South Africa. Rather than incremental rule changes, regulators focused on reshaping behaviour, accountability, and resilience across the financial system. Conduct, technology risk, financial crime controls, retirement savings, and market infrastructure all moved into sharper regulatory focus.
This was the year when cybersecurity became a compliance obligation, not an IT concern. When retirement reform altered how South Africans access long‑term savings. When South Africa exited the FATF grey list after years of intensified scrutiny. And when benchmark reform accelerated the transition away from legacy reference rates toward transaction‑based alternatives.
Globally, regulators also signalled a new willingness to intervene in unexpected areas — including digital design, behavioural nudging, and gamification — reinforcing the idea that regulation now extends beyond products and processes into customer experience and behavioural outcomes.
This module provides a structured overview of South Africa’s key regulatory developments in 2025. It explains what changed, why it changed, and what these reforms mean for financial institutions, compliance professionals, and governance structures operating in an increasingly outcomes‑focused regulatory environment.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Explain the significance of the COFI Bill Understand how COFI reshapes conduct regulation, expands the FSCA’s mandate, and shifts supervision toward principles‑based, outcomes‑focused oversight.
- Understand the regulatory elevation of cybersecurity and operational resilience Recognise how cyber risk has become a formal compliance obligation, including board accountability, incident reporting, and resilience expectations.
- Assess the impact of the two‑pot retirement system Understand how the reform affects retirement fund administration, adviser obligations, member behaviour, and long‑term retirement adequacy.
- Explain South Africa’s exit from the FATF grey list Identify the key AML/CFT reforms, FIC directives, and supervisory expectations that enabled grey list removal and shape post‑exit supervision.
- Understand benchmark reform and the transition from JIBAR to ZARONIA Recognise why quote‑based benchmarks are being replaced, and the operational, legal, and conduct risks associated with benchmark transition.
- Identify emerging regulatory themes for financial institutions Understand how conduct, technology risk, governance, and behavioural outcomes are increasingly interconnected in regulatory supervision.