Calle tables FIM Bill – again

Tabling the Financial Institutions and Markets (FIM) Bill in parliament on Thursday for a third time, finance minister Calle Schlettwein said “leap-frogging and modernising financial sector regulation come with associated benefits and costs”.However, “the macro benefits for the country and financial system envisaged in this reform far outweigh the costs,” Schlettwein said.He said the bill seeks to consolidate and modernise the regulatory framework of the non-banking financial sector in line with the risk-based supervision framework aspired for in the Namfisa Bill, Namfisa being the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority.“The laws governing this interconnected sector, some of which are as old as 50 years, are not only archaic but discrete in the context of rapid developments in the industry at home, regionally and globally,” Schlettwein said.The FIM bill is one of the three interconnected pieces of legislation, namely the Namfisa Bill 2019 and the Financial Services Adjudicator Bill 2019.“Due their cross-referencing, the three bills were tabled simultaneously for concurrent consideration and approval of the House. The House has passed the Namfisa Bill and the Financial Services Adjudicator Bill, which bills are also passed by the House of Review,” Schlettwein said.The FIM Bill was first introduced in parliament in June last year. It was re-tabled in September. “On both instances, the considerations on the bill could not be exhausted, owing to cited time limitations and the bill had to lapse due to effluxion of time,” Schlettwein said.‘Long overdue’The finance minister on Thursday asked parliament for their “favourable consideration to enable the implementation of the long-overdue reforms and modernisation in the non-banking financial sector”.He said the non-banking financial sector, whose asset base is about twice the size the gross domestic product (GDP), plays a key role in the Namibian economy and the stability of the financial system.“Hence, the regulatory framework must necessarily be up to date to ensure that market and systemic risks are effectively deterred and managed and that the industry contributes optimally to national development objectives,” Schlettwein said.“The bill brings forth the legislative framework which balances among the imperative of business growth, domestic economic and financial markets development as well as the risk-based supervision framework for this systematically important industry,” he continued.ConcernsAddressing “the various concerns raised about the adequacy of stakeholder consultation process in the formulation of this bill and related regulations and standards”, Schlettwein said the process of the regulatory revamp for the non-banking financial sector legal framework was initiated in 2008 and underpinned by extensive and reiterative consultation process.“The consolidation of the various standalone laws into a single piece of legislation, with specific chapters focusing on each industry sub-sector and policy cohesion across the entire framework, came about as a result of wide stakeholder consultation,” he said.“To further address the concerns raised about the impact of the new legislation on the industry, final rounds of consultation were held last year, particularly with the Retirement Funds Industry, NAMAF [Namibian Association of Medical Aid Funds] and the Namibia Savings and Investment Association (NaSIA).”Floor amendmentsSchlettwein said as an outcome of these consultations, the industry has come out supportive of the FIM Bill, “but raised the need to be given more time to be consulted on the subsidiary legislation and to prepare for the subsequent implementation”.In this regard, Schlettwein said, Namfisa has already availed the set of regulations and critical standards for industry commentary and consultation, while the primary legislation is in the approval process.“As regards the bill, some of the latest drafting input provided which are not inconsistent with the draft bill and its policy rationale will be considered for floor amendments during the discussion stage of the bill,” Schlettwein undertook.

Calle tables FIM Bill – again

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-27

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Calle tables FIM Bill – again

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-27

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