Interview by Reneilwe Mthelebofu - Communication and Language Services (FSCA)
How would you describe yourself?
I am a Nerd who believes in the pursuit of Justice. Having lived inside books my entire life, I believe that I am a knight of the modern round table and I want to use my knowledge to make a difference. I am a sucker for a poor lost book and will find it a home, either with someone else, or in my 7000 plus library. I play computer games every chance I can. I am also finished with writing any form of exam. I am now on strike!
The FSCA is a couple of years into executing its Regulatory Strategy. Out of 10, how would you rate the Authority’s performance thus far?
I would give it a 7. We need to stop thinking that we are at the beginning when we have made good progress and are no longer setting up – we have established a working and effective Conduct Authority. We must now concentrate on working faster to deliver solutions to the problems in the financial sector. Everything can be done faster. Like a pit stop in a Formula 1 race – over the years people have always believed that they are working as fast as can be done – pit stops become faster each year – time reveals that what was the fastest is now seen as very slow. We must remember to focus on the outcome we are looking for, and constantly ask how we can get to the same outcome faster and more efficiently. Technology is our friend in this regard, but sometimes we can do it faster just by changing the process or methodology.
After heading up the Enforcement division for the past few years, what would you say are some of the significant milestones you have achieved and how would you say you and your team have improved enforcement in the South Africa financial regulation landscape?
My team understands that tomorrow does not mean next year and that we must constantly ask ourselves whether what we are doing is still relevant or we should be doing it differently to get a quicker result. Time is the enemy of money and the enemy of those who are hurting or who have lost out due to some dragon operating in our sector.
I ask them to constantly consider AA Milne’s words (the author of Winnie the Pooh): “I don’t see much sense in that,” said Rabbit. “No,” said Pooh humbly, “there isn’t, but there was going to be when I began it. It’s just that something happened to it along the way.”
We are an old organisation with many ways of doing things that may have had a good reason for doing so once upon a time. We need to constantly apply our minds and ask ourselves:
“Why? What purpose does this serve? What is the end we are striving to attain, and is there an easier and better way to do this?
Our biggest success was closing down a Ponzi scheme of a Million Rand within two weeks of finding out about its existence, before it grew, and many more people’s lives were destroyed. We are thinking proactively and acting swiftly. Another important success is that as an organisation we have not had to change a decision we’ve made, and this shows that our standards are high and our execution of judgement sound.
What are some of the significant lessons both regulators and financial customers alike should learn from what unfolded in the cases of Mirror Trading International, JP Markets and Steinhoff?
For hundreds of years mankind has always had persons greedier than others, persons who are constantly thinking that they are cleverer than others, and who do not consider the consequences of their actions. We must not allow these people to rework tried and tested schemes or put on a new veneer in order to disguise what they are trying to do – which is basically to liberate you from your money! As regulators, we must work harder to close down the crooks and educate people not to fall for easy money. Money will never come to you easily.
What is your overall vision for the Enforcement division going forward?
I like analogies so...as Knights of the empire we will constantly watch over the Barons to make sure that they do not take advantage of the citizens. We will ride to the rescue of the damsels in distress or anyone suffering abuse at the hands of evil barons. We will not be scared to mount up and chase the dragons into the mountains and do battle – slaying them and / or chasing them out of South Africa. We will do this faster and faster and eventually with as little effort as possible. We will build such a reputation that they will flee when they hear that we are coming, preferably fleeing the country as soon as they realise in whose domain they have landed.
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