Two new FSCA deputy commissioners appointed

18th August 2021 By: Schalk Burger - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has appointed Farzana Badat and Katherine Gibson as deputy commissioners of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) for a period of five years.

Badat is currently based in Switzerland where she is working as a senior policy adviser at the International Association for Insurance Supervisors, responsible for conduct risk, financial technology and digital transformation.

She has previously worked as FSCA Conduct of Business Supervision divisional executive and its predecessor the Financial Services Board.

Badat holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the then University of Natal-Durban, now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and a Master of Laws degree in International Law from the University of Michigan Law School, in the US.

Gibson has been a member of the Transitional Management Committee (TMC) of the FSCA since the authority's establishment in April 2018. She has previously worked at the National Treasury, as part of the team that spearheaded the Twin Peaks reform process, including the Financial Sector Regulation Act.

Gibson holds a Master of Commerce Economics degree, a Bachelor of Commerce Economics degree and a Bachelor of Commerce degree, all obtained from the then University of Natal-Durban.

The appointment of Badat and Gibson follows on the appointment of Unathi Kamlana as the commissioner and Astrid Ludin as one of the deputy commissioners of the FSCA by former Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, in April. They assumed their duties on June 1.

In terms of the regulations, the Finance Minister is empowered to disestablish the TMC that has been performing the role of the FSCA executive committee during the transitional period. Its disestablishment is required to be done when the commissioner and at least two deputy commissioners have been appointed.

Given that the commissioner and three deputy commissioners have been appointed, the Minister will gazette a notice for the disestablishment of the TMC, to be effective from September 30.

"The Minister would like to thank Ms Badat and Ms Gibson for accepting the appointment and wishes the new FSCA executive committee under commissioner Kamlana with deputy commissioners Ludin, Badat and Gibson all the best in ensuring that the FSCA will successfully execute on its mandate of protecting financial sector customers through their fair treatment by financial institutions," the National Treasury says.