The Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, has appointed Leanne Jackson as the Chief Ombud of the Ombud Council, in terms of the Financial Sector Regulation (FSR) Act, for a period of five years, and is effective from 1 November 2022.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Jackson is currently an independent consultant in financial sector regulation, but worked in various positions at the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) for over a decade. She advised on market conduct and headed up the treating customers fairly strategy at the regulator and its predecessor, the Financial Services Board (FSB).
Deliverables included a lead role in developing the FSCA’s published regulatory strategy, organisation design, and market conduct regulatory and supervisory frameworks. Significant regulatory projects included extensive involvement in the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), Conduct of Financial Institutions Bill, Financial Sector Regulation Act, Insurance Policyholder Protection Rules and the Conduct Standard for Banks.
According to a press statement from National Treasury, Jackson is mandated to establish and operationalise the office of the Ombud Council and implement the functions set out in Chapter 14 of the FSR Act. She is required to act to the benefit and in the interests of the South African public and the Ombud Council and to avoid any conflict between her interests and the interests of the Ombud Council.
The FSR Act was promulgated in 2017 and focused on establishing regulatory standards to strengthen supervision of the sector, and former Finance Minister Tito Mboweni appointed the first Ombud Council Board and interim Chief Ombud for the Council in May last year.
Eileen Meyer, who was appointed as a Chief Ombud at the time, was only a transitional measure, the Minister said at the time.
According to the Council and the FSCA’s websites, the council’s objective is to assist in ensuring that financial customers have access to, and are able to use affordable, effective, independent, and fair alternative dispute resolution processes for complaints about financial institutions in relation to financial products, financial services, and services provided by financial infrastructures.
BUSINESS REPORT