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Capitec & Viceroy Discussed At Parliament

There has been a lot of talk about Viceroy and their running battle with Capitec Bank. Viceroy shorted Capitec stock and then released negative reports saying that the bank was being reckless in lending and had other operational issues that could affect sustainability. This lead to a huge drop in Capitec Bank share prices (and a lot of money for Viceroy).

 

Capitec Bank weathered the negative publicity and slowly share prices rose after the initial shock wore off. Since then Viceroy has released several reports and statements about the Bank and have made reference to consumers under debt review quite a bit.

Recently the topic was discussed at Parliament where the Reserve Bank came out strongly backing Capitec. This follows suit with others like the National Credit Regulator who reported no reckless lending matters at present or other infractions. The Regulator did say they would like to see the bank hold back on issuing repeated loans to the same consumers within a short time period.

 

The Finance Committee Chairperson strongly suggested that the NCR scrutinise the situation closely.

Capitec’s CEO Mr Gerrie Fourie was clear in saying that Capitec Bank did not want to get into a ‘media war’ with Viceroy and have been trying to address their concerns directly.

Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Mr Kuben Naidoo said that the Reserve Bank feels that the “allegations by Viceroy are not accurate”.