Cape Town – The Competition Commission’s decision to prosecute 17 banks for foreign exchange collusion is badly timed for South Africa's top four banks, who are trying keep the moral high ground after blacklisting the Guptas due to allegations of state capture.

That is the message from Adrian Saville, the chief strategist at Citadel Investment Services & Cannon Asset Managers.

“The timing for banks couldn’t be worse,” he said on Thursday. “They’ve been trying to capture the moral high ground on the Gupta issue. It comes at a time when they’re trying to demonstrate impeccable behaviour. It makes a case for intervention.”