The effectiveness of the Bank of Namibia's legal powers in the Namibian banking industry

Abstract

Abstract provided by author

The Bank of Namibia is the central bank of the Republic of Namibia. The Bank is responsible for the administration and implementation of seven (7) Acts[1] of Parliament. The Bank therefore exercises a multitude of legal powers within the banking industry of Namibia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the Bank of Namibia's legal powers. Given the fact that the Bank of Namibia is vested with a number of legal powers, the main objective of this study is to look at the Bank of Namibia's legal powers as regards to the banking supervision and the assistance with the combating of money laundering in Namibia.The legal powers which are the subject of this study are those encapsulated in the Banking Institution Act, no. 2 of 1998[2] and in the Financial Intelligence Act, no. 3 of 2007.[3] The study revealed that effective banking supervision and a banking system that is secure from money laundering activities is necessary for the stability and credibility of the Namibian banking industry. The study found that the Namibian banking industry is properly regulated, and that contributed to the survival of the industry during the 2008 Global financial crises. The study then concludes that the Bank of Namibia's legal powers as regards to banking supervision and assistance with the combating of money laundering in the Namibian banking industry is effective