Banxso placed in final liquidation

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This interview was originally aired on RSG Geldsake in Afrikaans. The transcript below has been translated into English.

RYK VAN NIEKERK: Exactly two years ago Moneyweb published the very first story about Banxso.

Banxso is a platform that offered contracts for difference [CFDs] to the public. Now, those are very, very risky investment options or derivative investments. That is not in itself illegal, but what is indeed illegal is the way in which [Banxso] marketed them.

By means of false and fraudulent, [artificial-intelligence-created] advertisements, people were lured by the stolen identities of millionaires such as Elon Musk, Johann Rupert, Patrice Motsepe and others in SA, claiming that you can invest between R4 500 and R4 700, and receive up to R500 000 per month for the rest of your life.

It may seem, as I describe it now, that many people were too ignorant or should not have fallen for it – but the operators know what they are doing and are very good at what they do.

Read: WATCH: Banxso defies licence suspension

They persuaded thousands and thousands of people to invest that first R4 400 or R4 700 – and this was followed by an absolutely professional process to extract as much money as possible from those investors. This Banxso scheme may involve billions of rands.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority [FSCA] finally withdrew the firm’s financial services provider (FSP) licence last year and today, on 3 March 2026, Banxso was placed in final liquidation.

Read: Banxso placed in final liquidation

Pierre du Toit is the attorney from Mostert Bosman Attorneys who handled the application. A warm welcome to the programme, Pierre.

Banxso has now been finally put into liquidation. What does that mean?

PIERRE DU TOIT: Ryk, we have waited a long time, but we have now received a verdict.

In a nutshell, it simply means that the process around the administration of the liquidation of Banxso can proceed in earnest.

So there will now be a creditors’ meeting, where creditors can prove their claims and vote for final liquidators. Final liquidators will then have the right to start legal steps to possibly recover money and institute legal processes to trace and recover the funds that have disappeared.

RYK VAN NIEKERK: You refer to creditors. Are all those who lost money through Banxso creditors, and can they submit a claim?

PIERRE DU TOIT: Yes, Ryk. In a nutshell, how it works with such illegal investment schemes, is that people who have lost money as a consequence of the fraudulent nature of the scheme will be entitled to qualify as creditors due to the capital they lost, and will be able to prove a claim for it.

RYK VAN NIEKERK: And how and where can someone register or submit a claim?

PIERRE DU TOIT: The process will be determined within the next couple of weeks by the Master of the High Court, who will publish [the date of a] meeting of creditors in the Government Gazette, when creditors can lodge their claims.

There will also be information pertaining to this on the existing liquidator’s website. The one name I can think of now is Herman Bester of Tygerberg Trustees. The creditors will have already received information from him, and on his website there will also be information.

RYK VAN NIEKERK: Is there any indication of how much money remains in Banxso?

PIERRE DU TOIT: Ryk, at this point we have fortunately managed to have R70 million stay frozen until the final liquidation judgment.

So at this stage those are the funds that will be handed over to the liquidators – the funds in the proverbial ‘pot’.

We of course still need to look for other monies. We know at least R1 billion has left our shores through crypto dealings.

RYK VAN NIEKERK: I think the question is whether there is a criminal investigation on the go that you are aware of?

PIERRE DU TOIT: Ryk, at this stage I am aware that a number of investors in or clients of Banxso have laid claims and such an investigation is underway.

At this point they have not contacted us, but we are aware that things are in process.

The provisional liquidators are certainly busy with their own investigations and confidential insolvency interrogations in an effort to gather information.

RYK VAN NIEKERK: But it’s not only Banxso. There is another scheme, AfriMarkets, which belongs to the same shareholder as Banxso. The modus operandi is exactly the same. The FSCA has also already withdrawn AfriMarket’s [FSP] licence.

Is there any liquidation process currently against AfriMarkets?

PIERRE DU TOIT: Ryk, I’m not aware of one at this point. But I can tell you that our own focus is currently on AfriMarkets.

On behalf of our clients we established, in the Bankserve liquidation investigation, that with various Banxso investors’ deposits the money ended in accounts owned by AfriMarkets. So there was certainly a mingling of funds.

And we [did find] a similar scheme, just presented under a different name, AfriMarkets.

I can’t tell you whether there are any others who have brought claims, but at this point there is a serious investigation into this. The logical process would be to put AfriMarkets under the microscope as well.

RYK VAN NIEKERK: Then, as you say, AfriMarkets is simply a continuation of Banxso. And more platforms have sprung up – uMarketPro and Protea Markets are two that I have come across, and they are operating under a company called Mixirite which has an FSCA licence. All indications are those are just another version of Banxso and AfriMarkets. Have you had any dealings with uMarketPro and Protea Markets?

PIERRE DU TOIT: Ryk, we coincidentally have a couple of clients who reacted to ads as the Banxso victims did, in regard to these two products.

Now Mixirite is the FSP, and these two names are simply named Mixirite products. At this stage there is every indication that the modus operandi is exactly the same.

We have meanwhile established that the same role-players lie behind Mixirite as those behind Banxso and AfriMarkets.

The operation is on the same premises, they have taken over Banxso’s staff, and they have so far used the same computers. So it seems evident at this stage that these are just the same people using the same recipe.

RYK VAN NIEKERK: Pierre, thank you very much. That was Pierre du Toit from Mostert Bosman Attorneys, who is handling this liquidation application against Banxso, which was placed into final liquidation today.