VERIFY FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS BEFORE INVESTING- FSRA

MBABANE – The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) has reiterated the importance of making sure that consumers tread carefully when interacting with financial service providers.

This warning was sent by the authority’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ncamiso Ntsalintshali, at a press briefing yesterday. The aim of the briefing was to announce the winners of a financial literacy quiz they conducted from last year until last month.

Best

When making his remarks, the CEO mentioned that in their operations as FSRA, they seek to do the best of their abilities, as supported by legislation, to ensure that consumers are using financial services in a safe and sound way. “Primary to our mandate is to make sure that the entities that we bring into the regulatory net are run in an outstanding manner and that the services they provide to consumers comply with legislation,” he said. In their work as a regulator, Ntsalintshali also highlighted the importance of protecting stakeholders, mainly the entities they interface with, including policymakers and the Ministry of Finance that they get their mandate from.

The CEO mentioned, however, that one major stakeholder that seems to be neglected is the consumers. “We see them extracting value from regulated entities, but the message that gets to them oftentimes seems not to be directly focused on their needs,” he added. According to Ntsalintshali, that was why they saw the need to run a competition, particularly around the festive season, that seeks to test and give FSRA a base on the knowledge that consumers have about safety in the financial services sector.

Responsibility

“Right throughout the year, we have the responsibility to ensure that we review the messages we relay to the public and industry players that it is still relevant,” he added. He also touched on the issue of FSRA and the Centre for Financial Inclusion (CFI) merging under the Central Bank of Eswatini, the CEO mentioned that the ball was already rolling and the matter was being handled by the rightful stakeholders and a formal announcement would be made as soon as updates were available.

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