South Africa Court Strikes Down Fishing Expedition in Sekunjalo Bank Fight

South Africa · LEGAL

South Africa’s appeal court has overturned an order forcing the Financial Intelligence Centre to disclose confidential records in the Sekunjalo bank fight. It called the broad request a fishing expedition.

South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal on Wednesday, 23 September, overturned a February 2024 disclosure order. That order had told the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), the country’s anti-money-laundering agency, to hand over confidential bank reports.

The records were sought by six litigants who joined a discrimination case brought by Dr Iqbal Survé’s Sekunjalo group against major banks. Sekunjalo, chaired by Survé, is a South African investment group.

What the appeal court decided

The five judges ruled unanimously, in a judgment written by Judge of Appeal Koen. They replaced the lower court’s order with one dismissing the disclosure application with costs.

The court found the Financial Intelligence Centre Act creates no general right to see confidential reports banks file with the FIC. It said the lower court wrongly ordered disclosure simply because fairness seemed to require it.

It also faulted the failure to join the banks and others named in the reports. On the Sekunjalo and Nedbank records, it found the litigants had shown no legal interest in them.

The court said the litigants sought the records “in the hope that something useful might emerge”. It called this “precisely the type of fishing expedition that is not allowed”.

The 2024 order came from the Western Cape High Court, sitting as the Equality Court, which hears discrimination complaints. The litigants abandoned that order in February 2025 and did not take part in the appeal.

The appeal court heard the case anyway, saying the legal issue would affect future claims for FIC information. Nedbank and Absa, two of the country’s largest banks, joined the FIC as intervening parties.

How the bank dispute began

Banks began closing Sekunjalo accounts in 2020 and 2021, citing reputational and business risk. Sekunjalo says it was told this stemmed from publicity around the Mpati Commission, a judicial inquiry into the state-owned Public Investment Corporation.

The Competition Tribunal, which hears South African competition cases, granted Sekunjalo interim relief on 16 September 2022. It stopped three banks closing accounts and ordered five others to reopen closed ones.

The Competition Appeal Court set that order aside for three of the banks in July 2023, finding no prima facie evidence that the banks broke competition law. The Tribunal refused to extend the relief in December 2023.

In the Equality Court track, the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned an interim order protecting Sekunjalo’s Nedbank accounts in December 2023. The Constitutional Court refused Sekunjalo leave to appeal on 4 September 2024.

Sekunjalo says the closures amount to unfair discrimination on the ground of race. The banks deny this and say their decisions rest on lawful commercial, regulatory and risk-management grounds.

The corporate context includes Sekunjalo-linked firms such as AYO Technology Solutions, African Equity Empowerment Investments and Premier Fishing. These entities form part of a wider investment group with interests across technology, fishing and empowerment holdings.

Money, power and the de-risking debate

De-risking means banks cutting off clients they see as too risky, rather than managing that risk. Investigative outlet amaBhungane reported in 2022 that 28 banks and representative offices of foreign banks had turned down Sekunjalo’s business.

In January 2024 Sekunjalo also gave notice that it would sue President Cyril Ramaphosa and other state organs for lost earnings. It put the claim at R75 billion (about US$4.6 billion, at R16.43 per US dollar on 25 September 2026, per open.er-api.com).

The fight has become a flashpoint in South Africa’s debate over who gets access to banking services. It raises questions about how compliance decisions affect black-owned investment groups.

Who gains and who loses from the ruling

The FIC gains a binding appeal ruling that protects the confidentiality of reports banks file with it. Nedbank and Absa avoid a precedent that could have opened their compliance files to litigants.

The six litigants must pay the FIC’s legal costs, including the costs of two counsel. Sekunjalo gets no route through this case to the banks’ reports on the group.

The court stressed that FIC-held information is not immune from judicial scrutiny. Courts may still order disclosure where the law clearly allows it, after hearing all affected parties and with safeguards.

The South-South and empowerment angle

The Sekunjalo dispute touches on themes that resonate across emerging markets: access to finance, empowerment ownership and the power of incumbent institutions. It echoes debates in other African and Latin American economies about who controls capital flows.

South Africa’s banking fight also fits a wider pattern of contestation over resources and market access. Readers following these dynamics can explore the broader scramble for influence in Africa: The New Scramble.

The case is watched by empowerment groups, compliance officers and international investors. The ruling will now guide how South African courts handle similar disclosure battles.

What to watch next

The ruling does not decide Sekunjalo’s main Equality Court case against Absa, FirstRand, Investec, Nedbank and Standard Bank. That discrimination claim is still pending.

Observers will watch whether Sekunjalo and its allies change legal strategy after this ruling. Sekunjalo’s separate R75 billion (about US$4.6 billion) damages claim against the state is another thread to follow.

For now, the appeal court has drawn a clear line: confidential FIC records cannot be obtained through a fishing expedition. That principle now binds lower courts across South Africa.

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