New Ombud Council chairperson appointed

National Treasury has announced the appointment of Eileen Meyer as the new chairperson of the Ombud Council for a period of four years.

Meyer is reprising her role after she was appointed as interim chairperson for some 18 months in a term stretching from May 2021 to November 2022.

‘Meyer is an Independent Public Management Consultant. She focuses on Strategic Leadership, Institutional Building and Capacity Development, Financial Management, Governance and Change Management. She holds a Master of Arts in Sociology (Major), Psychology and Political Science degree from the University of Hannover (Germany).

‘[She] was instrumental in establishing the office of the Ombud Council and performing functions as an interim Chief Ombud,’ the department said.

Meyer joins Advocate Dikeledi Chabedi, Adam Horowitz, Emmanuel Lekgau and Charmaine Soobramoney, who were reappointed as members of the Ombud Council Board of Directors.

The Commissioner of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, Unathi Kamlana, serves as an ex officio member of the Board of Directors.

The department explained that the ombud has oversight powers on the following statutory and industry ombuds:

Office of the Pension Fund Adjudicator

Office of the Ombud for Financial Services Providers (FAIS Ombud)

Office of the Credit Ombud

Ombudsman for Long-Term Insurance

Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance

Ombudsman for Banking Services

Johannesburg Stock Exchange Ombud

‘The Ombud Council is responsible for recognising industry schemes, set enhanced governance and accountability requirements, and harmonise and strengthening standards of practice for each ombud scheme through rule-making and enforcement powers, to develop a uniform and consistent framework for external dispute resolution mechanisms across the financial services sector.

‘The Ombud Council is the regulator of ombuds schemes within the financial sector, and its objective is to, in line with the Twin Peaks model of financial regulation objectives of treating customers fairly, 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 financial infrastructures,’ the department said. – SAnews.gov.za

Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).