The Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA) says it will continue to roll out its five-year strategy despite a delay in the implementation of the Financial Institutions and Markets Act (FIMA).
“FIMA was supposed to be implemented by the first of October and we foresee that the implementation would take much time and therefore given what needs to happen the removal of cross referencing might move quickly and the FIMA act will not affect our strategy. Once FSA BILL amendments have been passed by Parliament and assented to by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Namibia, a date for the implementation of FIMA and NAMFISA Acts will be determined by the Minister of Finance,” NAMFISA Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Matomola said.
He said given the time frame that is needed to complete regulations, the authority will refocus on having the amendments to the FIMA and NAMFISA Acts passed by Parliament.
Matomola said the organisation’s 2022-2027 strategy will focus particularly on three overarching themes that will drive the organisational strategy, namely Stakeholder Engagement, Operational efficiency, and Innovation.
“We want to bring NAMFISA services closer to the people, and in this strategy, we move to the grassroot, so they will be able to access our services,” he said.
Key to the NAMFISA Strategy is the reform in the way in which NAMFISA will be regulating and supervising the Non-banks Financial Sector.
“Under this reform, NAMFISA will shift from compliance or rule-based supervision to Risk Based Supervision (RBS). RBS will allow NAMFISA to focus its limited resources on the areas that pose the greatest risk to meeting regulatory objectives,” the CEO noted.
Meanwhile, Matomola said the process of finalising the subordinate legislation (i.e.Standards and Regulations) to be issued under FIMA is going well and will be completed as planned.
“In particular, the objectives of FIMA are to foster the financial soundness of financial institutions and financial intermediaries, the stability of the financial institutions and markets sector, and the highest standards of conduct of business by financial institutions and financial intermediaries.”
“Additionally, to foster the fairness, efficiency and orderliness of the financial institutions and markets sector, the protection of consumers of financial services and the promotion of public awareness and understanding of financial institutions and financial intermediaries and the reduction and deterrence of financial crime.â€
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