Is the COFI Bill law yet?

What happened on 17 April 2026?

National Treasury's notice states that the Minister of Finance gave notice of the introduction of the Conduct of Financial Institutions Bill, 2026 in the National Assembly. The Gazette also published an explanatory summary of the intended framework.

The summary is important because it shows the direction of travel: consolidated conduct regulation, compliance arrangements, representative appointment and debarment, governance obligations, transformation planning, fitness and propriety, customer requirements, advertising and disclosure, financial soundness, operational ability, reporting, audit and a consolidated licensing framework.

What the notice does not establish

• It does not by itself prove that the Bill has completed the parliamentary process.
• It does not make every proposal in a previous draft immediately binding.
• It does not provide a reliable commencement date for operational planning.
• It does not replace current FAIS, FSR Act, conduct-standard, licence-condition or other applicable duties overnight.

This distinction matters. Search results and industry commentary often compress “notice of introduction,” “introduced,” “passed,” “signed” and “effective” into one story. A defensible compliance update should record the exact milestone and link to the primary source.

What should an FSP do now?

1. Map activities to current permissions. Record the financial services, products, customer types, channels and outsourced functions actually used, then compare them with the existing licence profile.
2. Trace customer outcomes. Identify evidence for product design, target markets, advice, disclosures, complaints, vulnerable customers, service performance and remediation.
3. Make accountability visible. Link governing-body oversight, key individuals, compliance, operations, representatives and outsourced providers to named controls and evidence.
4. Review public promises. Check website, social-media, lead-form and campaign claims against current permissions, actual capability and customer disclosure.
5. Build transition-ready evidence. Keep a dated gap register that distinguishes current non-compliance, sensible readiness work and items that cannot be finalised until legislation or subordinate standards are published.

A better board-reporting format

Use four columns for every COFI item:

Official sources and further reading

• Government Gazette 54520, Notice 7376, 17 April 2026 — notice of introduction and explanatory summary.
• FSCA Latest News — source for the rolling regulation plan and future FSCA publications.
• FSCA Regulatory Strategy 2025–2028 — outlines the Authority's preparation for the COFI framework.