Women in Leadership - Championing Gender Equality in Economics

Fundi Tshazibana, Deputy South African Reserve Bank Governor and CEO: Prudential Authority

By Koketso Mamabolo

Holding one of the highest positions at the South African Reserve Bank, Fundi Tshazibana has dedicated herself to advancing South Africa’s economic position and championing gender diversity in the financial sector.

A child prodigy, Ms Tshazibana, matriculated at the young age of 15, and completed her first degree, a Bachelor of Commerce, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, when she was just 18. Ms Tshazibana is a deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank and is the CEO of the Prudential Authority, using her influence to raise awareness of gender equity in the sector. Her term was recently extended for another five years.

Representing The Nation

The Prudential Authority regulates banks, insurers, cooperative financial institutions, financial conglomerates and certain market infrastructures. In her role with the Prudential Authority, Ms Tshazibana leads the Prudential Cluster, which includes the Financial Surveillance Department. Prior to 2022, she oversaw the Financial Markets and International Cluster.

Ms Tshazibana joined the SARB in 2018 as an adviser to the governor and was appointed as a deputy governor in 2019 by the President. In her role as deputy governor, she also works to keep the National Treasury accountable and manage South Africa’s reserves. She has a wealth of knowledge in her field, having served in roles at local and international institutions, including National Treasury, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

At the IMF, she was an alternate executive director on the Executive Board, which runs the day-to-day operations of the IMF. Her role at the IMF was what Ms Tshazibana describes as one of her most difficult working environments because she was in a team with people from different countries with extensive and diverse experience. Her key to success was to observe, and she soon realised her strength lay in partnering with other women and advancing South Africa’s position.

Before joining the IMF, Ms Tshazibana was a deputy director-general at National Treasury, responsible for macroeconomic policy and economic forecasting. At NERSA, she worked as a senior policy analyst. Ms Tshazibana also fills a role on the Monetary Policy Committee. The committee is responsible for formulating monetary policy to meet the SARB's price stability objective. She is the first woman to serve on the interest-rate setting body since Gill Marcus quit as governor in 2014 and was appointed with almost two decades of experience in public policy analysis and formulation.

She has proven her worth in the role, contributing to several interest rate decisions. The Committee has had to make a number of tough calls in the time that Ms Tshazibana has served on it amid a weak economy, heavily strained consumers and debate around the Bank’s ownership and independence. In December last year, she was bestowed with an honorary doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch (Doctor of Commerce) at the graduation ceremony for the faculty of Economic and Management Services.

Advancing Equality

Ms Tshazibana has said that her career has been largely shaped by her ability to listen to others and provide support. However, she did not initially envision a career as an economist for herself. During her studies, she focused on marketing as a career and picked up economics as a second major. However, she soon veered towards public finance and policy, placing her on her current career path.

Ms Tshazibana is passionate about gender diversity and hopes to see more women take up high-level roles within the Reserve Bank. However, she said the Reserve Bank is making good gender representation. In the last 30 years, the Reserve Bank has seen the appointment of women to more than 40% of senior management roles, including two women in the roles of deputy governor, Ms Tshazibana and Dr. Mampho Modise. In addition, women now hold a number of specialist positions.

While at the IMF, Ms Tshazibana became aware of how a lack of gender diversity was not an issue unique to South Africa. “A former colleague from the UK was the first woman who her country had sent as a representative to the IMF. When we look at Managing Directors at the IMF, Christine Lagarde was the first woman and the current MD [Kristalina Georgieva] is the second woman,” she said in an interview with the Sunday Times.

“By the time I left the IMF, I was part of a group doing work around increasing gender diversity on the IMF Board. It’s exciting for young black women in particular. When we grew up, there were some careers that we didn’t even know existed. There’s a lot that we could glean about what women bring to the workplace around culture, around having organisations that are nourishing, and when people can be part of a bigger cause as well.”