Financial Sector Regulation: Status of COFI Bill Tabling in Parliament

Posted 25 August 2026 Written by Acts Online
Category Financial Sector

Brought to you by SA Legal Academy: The Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill has not yet been formally tabled in Parliament or submitted under Joint Rule 201, notwithstanding the prior gazetting of its procedural explanatory summary.

Under the parliamentary legislative process, a pre-tabling explanatory summary published in the Government Gazette serves only to provide advance notice of the executive’s intention to introduce proposed legislation into the National Assembly. It does not constitute formal tabling or introduction of the Bill.

Cabinet approved the COFI Bill’s readiness for parliamentary introduction following two successive Cabinet meetings held in April, which concluded extended public consultation processes initiated with initial drafts released in December 2018 and revised drafts in September 2020.

Once formally introduced, enacted, and operationalised, the COFI Bill will establish the consolidated conduct framework under the ‘twin peaks’ regulatory system introduced by the Financial Sector Regulation Act, No. 9 of 2017, providing statutory backing for market conduct supervision by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).

What this means for you, your business, or your clients

  • For yourself: Compliance professionals should track the formal parliamentary committee programme to prepare for forthcoming public hearings once the Bill is officially introduced in the National Assembly.
  • For your business: Financial institutions remain governed by current sectoral licensing frameworks and should continue internal gap analyses against the revised draft Bill ahead of formal parliamentary enactment.
  • For your clients: Financial services clients should anticipate comprehensive licensing transitions and conduct standard overhauls once the legislative timetable advances, but face no immediate change in statutory filing obligations.

Originally published at https://legalacademy.co.za/news/read/financial-sector-regulation-cofi-bill-still-not-tabled-in-parliament

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