The banks, according to the department were found non-compliant in hiring workers from designated groups, which refers to black people, women, and people with disabilities. Photographer: Dean Hutton/Bloomberg
Three of South Africa’s big banks have been accused of being non-compliant with affirmative action laws at an executive level.
This was according to the Department of Labour’s chief director of statutory and advocacy services, Fikisawa Mncanca-Bede.
The banks involved are Standard Bank, FNB and Absa.
The banks, according to the department, were found non-compliant in hiring workers from designated groups, which refers to black people, women, and people with disabilities.
Mncanca-Bede said, “We are going to appoint African females at top management. They have not done that, even though there were opportunities. They decided to give those opportunities to those groups that were already over-represented.”
Mncanca-Bede further stated that the banks had approached the department to hold round table discussions to come to a resolution.
The Cape Times reported that Standard Bank said it had many constructive engagements with the department, and these are ongoing.
“We can confirm that we have not agreed or reached any settlement on any matters relating to non-compliance. Standard Bank has a Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Level 1 Rating, as measured against the amended Financial Sector Code (FSC) in South Africa.
We have maintained our Level 1 Rating since 2017. Standard Bank is committed to playing its part in transforming the country and economy and is dedicated to meeting its commitments as required by law. The bank has regular engagements with the authorities. While we have met or exceeded some of our targets, there are other targets that we have committed to focus more on in order to improve. We are a bank that remains committed to Employment Equity (EE), and we demonstrate this through various initiatives run across the bank led by senior leaders who are held accountable for the implementation of our EE programmes.”
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