Farzana Badat

Deputy Commissioner, Financial Sector Conduct Authority of South Africa

Farzana is Deputy Commissioner of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa. The FSCA is the dedicated market conduct regulator for South Africa’s financial system. She was appointed to this role by the Minister of Finance on 1 December 2021 and is part of the Executive Committee responsible for the overall policy direction, strategic oversight and operational management of the FSCA. She Chairs the FSCA’s Strategic Management Committee and represents the FSCA on various international standard setting and collaboration forums.

She is also responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of harmonised licensing and supervisory risk frameworks for a range of financial institutions including financial conglomerates, banks and payment providers, investment providers and asset managers, life and non-life insurers and insurance groups, micro- and access product providers, and financial advisors and intermediaries, as well as overseeing the FSCA’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) unit and the General Counsel’s Office.

Farzana’s professional experience spans multiple private and public institutions, locally and internationally in both developed and emerging economies. She was previously Senior Policy Advisor for conduct risk, financial technology and digital transformation at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) in Basel, Switzerland. Prior to that, she was Divisional Executive responsible for Conduct of Business Supervision across the financial sector and headed up the regulatory frameworks and insurance conduct supervision departments at the FSCA and its predecessor, the Financial Services Board. She was also Head of Regulatory Risk and Compliance at a large financial services group where she established the second line regulatory risk and compliance function, and data protection and combined assurance frameworks for the group’s non-life insurance entity. While at a global audit and advisory firm, she led and participated in several regulatory and technology risk assessment, consumer protection and change implementation projects for various institutions across the financial, telecommunications, retail, mining and public sectors. She has sat on various Boards in ex officio capacities and has extensive experience in strategy formulation, corporate governance, change management, financial technology, regulatory policy and organisational design.

She is also currently a member of the IAIS’ Implementation and Assessment Committee (IAC), Supervisory Forum (SF) and Protection Gaps Task Force (PGTF).

Farzana graduated summa cum laude with a Law degree from the University of Natal-Durban in South Africa, holds a Master of Laws degree in International Law from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, USA, and completed her Master of Laws coursework in Human Rights and Constitutional Litigation, Internet, E-commerce and Technology Law and Bioethics at the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. She has also completed the Senior Executive Program Africa (SEPA) aimed at designing effective leadership and competitive corporate strategies to drive regional and international growth for African and other emerging markets, at Harvard Business School in Boston, USA.