We were privileged to host Cas Coovadia, the Managing Director of the Banking Association of South Africa at our recent BoldTalk Event. Mr. Coovadia presented and shared his insights on sustainable transformation in the Financial Sector, the performance of the charter and what happens beyond the charter.

Some of the key points from the discussion were:
• Whilst there has been progress in the implementation of the first phase of the charter, there is still much to be done and there is a somewhat pessimistic view of the charter. The draft released in December could take a long time before it becomes law, and potentially could be more effective if it is an industry driven initiative. The nature of discourse is currently bureaucratic;
• Basel 3’s impact to a) the economy b) sector and c) transformation and other country specific issues need to be carried out. The view is that Basel 3 will have a negative impact to transformation and regulators should bring such issues to G20 and Basel committee. There seems to be consensus that Basel 3 will be implemented but there are strong political views related to its impact to transformation (ability of banks to increase penetration to the low LSMs etc).

An enthused debate and discussion took place, and clients departed with valuable food for thought.