National Treasury update on VBS Mutual Bank
15 July 2024
The National Treasury welcomes the conviction and sentencing of Mr Tshifhiwa Matodzi, former Chairperson of VBS Mutual Bank, and kingpin behind the looting of funds, for his role in its collapse. The corruption, money laundering, manipulation and theft of citizens' hard-earned money that led to the eventual and regrettable collapse of VBS Mutual Bank is a blight on our financial system.
The response of our legal and regulatory authorities – the Prudential Authority at the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) – is, however, something we should be very proud of. National Treasury and SARB officials worked closely with investigators from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to secure this conviction. This is proof of how seriously the government as a whole is working hard to tackle organised crime and money laundering.
It was then Minister of Finance Nhlanhla Nene who approved placing VBS Mutual Bank under curatorship on 11 March 2018, following the recommendation of the then Deputy Governor of the SARB and Registrar of Banks, Mr Kuben Naidoo.
However, long before the curatorship, since 2016 in fact, the National Treasury took concrete steps to end unlawful investments made by municipalities into VBS Mutual Bank.