Pretoria – President Cyril Ramaphosa has reappointed Lesetja Kganyago as Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) for five years.
The reappointment will take effect from November this year.
“The reappointment of Governor Kganyago will ensure continuity and institutional stability at the reserve bank,” the Presidency said in a statement issued Friday.
“Furthermore, the President has reappointed Nomfundo Tshazibana and Dr Rashad Ismail Cassim as Deputy Governors of the South African Reserve Bank for a period of five years, with effect from 1 August 2024.”
The statement said Dr. Mampho Modise has been appointed as Deputy Governor following the end of the term of former Deputy Governor Kuben Naidoo.
Dr. Modise is currently the Deputy Director-General for the Public Finance Division in the National Treasury.
“She started her career as an intern at the South African Reserve Bank in 2004 and progressed to the role of economist at the bank,” the statement said.
“Dr Modise left the SARB in 2009 to join the National Treasury, where she started as a senior economist in the Economic Policy division.
“She was soon promoted to Director: Fiscal Policy, then to the Chief Director: Strategy and Risk Management in the Asset and Liability Management division of the NT.
“In 2017, she was promoted to the position of Deputy Director-General. Dr Modise completed her tertiary education at the University of Pretoria, obtaining her BCom Economics, BCom Honours Econometrics, MCom Econometrics (cum laude), and a PhD in Economics.”
The appointment and reappointments were made in accordance with section 4(1) (a) read with section 5 (1) (a) of the South African Reserve Bank Act of 1989, and after consultations with the Minister of Finance and the board of directors of the SARB.
The South African Reserve Bank Act of 1989 provides for the President to appoint the Governor along with three Deputy Governors and four Directors of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB).
Section 4 (1) (a), states that ‘The Bank shall have a board of fifteen directors, consisting of a Governor and three Deputy Governors (of whom one shall be designated by the President of the Republic as Senior Deputy Governor) who shall be appointed by the President of the Republic, after consultation with the Minister and the Board, as well as four other directors appointed by the President, after consultation with the Minister.
Responsibilities of the SARB Governor and Deputy Governors
Governor Kganyago is the Chairperson of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Financial Stability Committee (FSC) and Prudential Committee (Pruco). He is responsible for Economic Research, Strategy Management, Communications, Group Secretariat, and Internal Audit.
Deputy Governor Fundi Tshazibana was appointed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Prudential Authority (PA) with effect from 1 April 2022. The appointment of Ms Tshazibana as CEO of the PA is in accordance with section 37 of the Financial Sector Regulation Act 9 of 2017 (FSR Act) and was made in concurrence with the Minister of Finance. She oversees the Prudential Cluster, which includes the PA and the Financial Surveillance Department. Deputy Governor Tshazibana represents the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Financial Stability Board’s Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation. She is the Vice-Chairperson of the Network for Greening the Financial System (NFGS).
Deputy Governor Rashad Cassim heads up the Markets and International Cluster, which includes the Financial Markets Department, International Economic Relations and Policy Department, and General Counsel. He is also in charge of the National Payment System Department. South Africa will host the Group of Twenty (G20) in 2025 and Deputy Governor Cassim is South Africa’s Central Bank Deputy at both the G20 and BRICS meetings. He also serves on the Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) Markets Committee. DG Cassim is the Chair of the Financial Markets Liaison Group, Market Practitioners Group, and the Corporation for Public Deposits (CPD).
Deputy Governor Mampho Modise will be responsible for the following departments: Financial Stability, Economic Statistics, Risk Management and Compliance as well as the Fintech Unit and the newly established Corporation for Deposit Insurance (CODI). All three deputy governors will be members of the SARB’s MPC, FSC, and Pruco.
