Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana has appointed Leanne Jackson as the Chief Ombud of the Ombud Council, which is the “regulator” of the country’s ombud schemes.
The appointment is for five years and is effective from 1 November, the Ministry of Finance and the Ombud Council said in a joint statement on 20 October.
The contract of the current interim Chief Ombud, Eileen Meyer, ends on 31 October. Her appointment was a transitional measure, to enable the Ombud Council to commence operations and allow the board to start the process to appoint a full-time Chief Ombud.
The council’s board held its first meeting in May last year.
The Ombud Council was established in terms of section 175 of the Financial Sector Regulation (FSR) Act.
In terms of the Act, 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 market infrastructures.”
The Ombud Council oversees two statutory ombud schemes, the Office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator and the Office of the FAIS Ombud, and five industry ombuds: the Office of the Credit Ombud, the Ombudsman for Long-term Insurance, the Ombudsman for Short-term Insurance, the Ombudsman for Banking Services, and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Ombud.
The council has the authority to take regulatory action against ombud schemes where a scheme contravenes or is likely to contravene a financial sector law relating to an ombud scheme.
The statement said Jackson has been given a mandate to establish and operationalise the office of the Ombud Council and implement the functions set out in chapter 14 of the FSR Act.
It described Jackson as an independent financial regulation consultant with extensive experience in financial sector policy and regulation in the public and private sectors. She has been closely involved in the development and implementation of key features of the South African financial sector legislative framework, including Treating Customers Fairly and the Retail Distribution Review, and contributed to drafting the FSCA’s regulatory strategy.
She has contributed to financial sector legislative developments, including drafting the Conduct of Financial Institutions Bill, the FSR Act, the Insurance Act and the Policy Protection Rules, and aspects of the FAIS Act and the Draft Banking Standards.
