JOHANNESBURG - Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has appointed Unathi Kamlana as Commissioner of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) for a five year term from June 1, his department said on Thursday.
In a statement, the ministry of finance said the appointment of Kamlana, who is currently a department head at the Prudential Authority of the South African Reserve Bank, was crucial for the integrity of financial markets and institutions and their fair treatment of customers.
The FSCA is the market conduct regulator of institutions that provide financial products and services, as well as financial institutions licensed in terms of financial sector law, including banks, insurers, retirement funds and administrators.
It states its mission as ensuring a fair and stable financial market “where consumers are informed and protected, and where those that jeopardize the financial well-being of consumers are held accountable”.
On Thursday, the finance ministry said Kamlana had worked extensively on the implementation of the Twin Peaks reforms for the sector from 2011 to 2018, having been part of the original team that proposed the new and tougher system for regulating the industry.
A former deputy registrar of banks, he has served on various international committees of the Financial Stability Board, an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system.
The finance ministry said Mboweni had also appointed Astrid Ludin as a deputy commissioner of the FSCA for five years, also commencing in June.
Ludin is currently the head of the financial markets and digital innovation practice at specialist consultancy DNA Economics and a former deputy director-general at South Africa’s department of trade, industry and competition.
“The appointment of Mr Kamlana and Ms Ludin marks the end of a three-year transitional process to establish a permanent top leadership for the FSCA, following its establishment on 1 April 2018,” the finance ministry said.
It said the process had taken longer than initially anticipated when it first began that month, due to the “inflexibility” of the original regulations, which subsequently led to their amendment last August.
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