It's Not Only The Role Of Regulators

The financial services industry has had its fair share of controversy. But new regulations alone will not bring about the shift in culture needed in many organisations.

- Vanessa Bell

after arriving early for a recent meeting, the second person who arrived on time remarked to me – as others slowly drifted into the meeting room – how easily being late for meetings can creep into the culture of an organisation and become an acceptable norm. Typically, one could laugh this off as a small agitation by those who are good time keepers against those who are not. Seemingly then, this notion of culture might be something small, but is it?

Notably, one of the first things that the new South African president did was to insist on meetings starting on time. This may be considered small in the context of the many large problems that President Ramaphosa faced then, but in terms of instituting a better culture, it should be considered significant, in my view.

A new era has dawned in South Africa, not merely because of a new punctual presidency but, more importantly, also because of SA’s new-era financial sector regulation under the Twin Peaks model.

There has been much recent media coverage of the change from the Financial Services Board (FSB) to the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) as of 1 April 2018. As the name indicates, it is a conduct-focused approach by a new regulatory body, which will oversee all financial institutions – banks, insurance companies, retirement funds, effectively everyone in this industry.