Abstract
The world has evolved over the years with a resultant increase in, amongst others, information and technological advancements. These technological developments relate also to developments in techniques for business operations. However, technology has often been manipulated for the purposes of conducting criminal activities including money laundering and financing of terrorism, as well as for other fraudulent uses. This continues to pose new challenges to the law. It is also often difficult to prosecute for such unauthorised activities. One problem in this regard is the universally recognised duty of secrecy that exists between bankers and their customers. The primary aim of this work to outline the effect of the duty of secrecy, and the extent to which it has been affected, and often compromised, by legislative changes aimed at preventing criminal activities. The effect of the Constitution, various statutes, court cases and other rules and regulations on the duty of secrecy are accordingly scrutinised against this background. This work will show that despite the importance of the duty of secrecy globally, measures aimed at preventing illegal commercial activities have put it under tremendous pressure. This has led to a severe erosion of the duty, and may even eventually lead to its demise. This dissertation commences with some introductory remarks. The second part deals with the nature of the bank-customer relationship. The focal point of the third part is the leading English case of Tournier v National Provincial and Union Bank of England. Part four discusses privacy as source of the duty of secrecy. It is followed by a reflection on status opinions against the background of the duty of secrecy. Part six deals with the impact of legislation on the duty of secrecy, which leads to the final conclusion.
LL.M. (Banking Law)