12 Sep 2013

The Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) and the Competition Authority have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on sharing of supervisory information between the two institutions.

The MoU was meant to help define and guide the two institutions’ working relationships in addition to enabling smooth exchange of supervisory information. It will also help define and guide working relationships in addition to enabling smooth exchange on supervisory information between the two institutions.

Competition Authority CEO, Mr Thula Kaira said at the signing ceremony in Gaborone on September 11 that the MoU will provide an open door policy at both the authority and NBFIRA. He said Competition Authority’s concerns in the non-banking financial sector will likely be in connection with suspected cartels, abuse of dominance and anti-competitive mergers.

“We may also at some point carry out a competition study to understand the competition dynamics and their effect on growth of a particular relevant market falling within the non-bank financial sector,” he said.

CEO of NBFIRA, Mr Oaitse Ramasedi said the global financial crisis has reinforced the importance of effective dialogue and collaboration between regulators and supervisory authorities. He said one of the biggest lessons learnt from the financial crisis has been the need for better regulation of financial institutions. “The crisis has also been provided an abundance of examples highlighting the importance of risk-based supervision and cooperation between regulatory authorities,” he said. Mr Ramasedi said by signing MoU, NBFIRA was also looking at cross border cooperation which he said was prerequisite for establishing effective resolution techniques for systematically important non-banking financial institutions having cross border operations. ENDS