The cost of compliance: the case of South African banks

Abstract

Compliance cost is expenditure of time or money in conforming to government requirements such as regulation or legislation. In the press it is stated that the cost of compliance is much too high in South Africa. Some South African regulatory authorities agreed with this opinion. To this end, research was conducted in South Africa to establish whether these opinions are accurate. The study found that the cost of compliance with regulations was unacceptably high for South African banks. The study concluded that banks needed assistance to reduce the cost of compliance. Following the recommendations of the study, calculations indicated that the implementation of these recommendations could reduce the cost of compliance by as much as 40 per cent.