South Africa has received a positive assessment of its domestic financial sector, the National Treasury said on Wednesday.

The assessment was done by the IMF and the World Bank Report on Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC).

The report was compiled from a detailed assessment taken in March of South Africa's adherence to international banking, insurance and securities markets' regulatory standards in terms of their Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP), spokesperson Kershia Singh said in a statement.

"ROSC assessors found the supervision of South African banking, insurance and securities markets to be of a high standard and that the regulatory framework is generally sound, as seen in the ability of the South African financial sector to weather the global financial crisis relatively well.

"Furthermore, the ROSC found that South Africa has made substantial progress in addressing recommendations made in the earlier FSAPs," she said.

The ROSC assessed the financial stability and compliance by countries with three key standards: Basel Core Principles for banking supervision, International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) principles for securities markets regulation, and Insurance Core Principles of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) for insurance regulation.

Singh said South Africa was committed to regular ROSCs and assessments of financial sector regulation, which were made public.

It also found that South Africa had made substantial progress in addressing recommendations made in the earlier FSAPs.

The Financial Stability Board had concluded that South African authorities adhered to regulatory and supervisory standards on international co-operation and information exchange, she said.