NAMFISA to review funding model

The Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA) will in the 2015/2016 financial year assess various options to expand its funding model. The need to review its funding model, according to its Chief Executive Officer Phillip Shiimi is because of its increased activity, static levies imposed by NAMFISA, and operational costs which now exceed the funding.

Said Shiimi, “regulatory and supervisory activities require sufficient funding, particularly when such activities are expected to increase in the next year. In this regard, the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority will review available options to provide an adequate funding structure, including the review of the current funding model. It is important to note that NAMFISA’s increased activity over the past five years and its focus in carrying out its mandate has also increased the costs it carries. However, levies have remained static.”
Added Shiimi, “indeed, the level of the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority’s operations has reached a point where its cost exceeds its funding, which necessitates a review of its levy structures. This review will be done in line with a Funding Model and Reserves Policy to be formalised during the 2015/16 financial year. Stakeholders will be consulted in this process.” Other important Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority developments included the long awaited FIM , Financial Adjudicator and Microlending Bills. Giving an update, Shiimi said, “one of NAMFISA’s main strategic preoccupations is the current drafting of regulations and standards to support the implementation of the Financial Institutions and Markets Bill, the Microlending Bill, the NAMFISA Bill and the Financial Services Adjudicator Bill, upon promulgation by Parliament. This explains the significant number of Regulations and Standards produced during the reporting year.”
Added NAMFISA board chairperson Estelle Tjipuka, “the Board will continue to drive the regulatory reform programme, including rendering assistance to the Ministries of Finance and Justice in tabling in Parliament the Financial Institutions and Markets Bill, the Financial Services Adjudicator Bill, the Microlending Bill and the NAMFISA Bill during the 2015/16 financial year. These initiatives are aligned to the implementation of the government’s Financial Sector Strategy, which aims at ensuring an effective regulatory regime exists whose implementation in turn ensures the maintenance of a stable financial sector.”