A banking sector can be said to have integrity if it is sufficiently robust to ensure that abuses of the institutions that operate within the sector are detected and addressed through an appropriate response.

The products and services offered by institutions in the banking sector can be abused for a number of reasons such as to launder the proceeds of crime, to perpetrate fraud (either on the institutions themselves or their customers), to facilitate corruption, to make funds available for illicit purposes such as terrorism or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, to evade taxes, to name but a few. The aim of measures to promote financial integrity is to ensure that when abuses of this nature occur, those are not tolerated or allowed to compete unfairly with the legitimate objectives that the banking sector is meant to serve.

A wide range of measures are put in place to protect the integrity of the banking sector and, by implication, of the institutions that operate within the sector. The fundamental building block of measures to promote integrity of the banking sector are those that bring transparency to the sector by requiring banking institutions to conduct proper due diligence on their customers and to capture and to maintain customer and transaction information in records that are accessible to supervisory and investigating authorities.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) supervises the South African banking system. The information and documents provided are specifically intended for the banking sector.

Accountable institutions which fall under the South African Reserve Bank include:

• A person who carries on the 'business of a bank' as defined in the Banks Act, 1990 (Act 94 of 1990).
• A mutual bank as defined in the Mutual Banks Act, 1993 (Act 124 of 1993).
• A person who carries on the business of dealing in foreign exchange.
• A person who carries on the business of lending money against the security of securities.
• A person who issues, sells or redeems travellers' cheques, money orders or similar instruments.
• The Postbank referred to in section 51 of the Postal Services Act, 1998 (Act 124 of 1998).
• The Ithala Development Finance Corporation Limited.
• A person who carries on the business of a money remitter.