Standard Bank labelled 'most aggressive litigant'

Accused of pulling out all the stops in a bid not to face the music

- ZELDA VENTER

WHILE Standard Bank accused the Competition Commission of “sticking to its bloody-minded ignorance” by continuing to accuse the bank of allegedly being part of a cartel which manipulated the Rand/US dollar exchange, the commission had hit back to say the bank is pulling out all the stops in a bid not to face the music.

Advocate Kate Hofmeyr, acting for Standard Bank, told the Constitutional Court this week that in 2017, when the commission told the media about its allegations that the banks were allegedly involved in an international cartel colluding to manipulate the Rand/ US dollar, Standard Bank’s share price dropped in a few days by 3.8%, which equated to R8.5bn.

She argued that while the commission was investigating the case for a year and a half, it did not meet with Standard Bank at all to obtain information from it regarding the matter. Hofmeyr said because there was no proper investigation by the commission, it got its facts wrong. In turn, Standard Bank suffered reputational damages while these allegations are hanging over its head.