NBFIRA SIGNS MoU WITH COMPETITION AUTHORITY
Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) and Competition Authority (CA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the 11th of September 2013 in Gaborone. Both Authorities expressed a convergence of will, indicating an intended common line of action when entering into a cooperation and information sharing agreement in specific areas of investigation of anti-competitive practices.
The MoU is premised on the need for NBFIRA to confer and cooperate with the Competition Authority thereby ensuring fairness and transparency of the Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFI) sector. The Memorandum of Understanding highlights investigation of anti-competitive practices of any sector in the market economy as an arduous task that cannot be undertaken by either of the parties alone without the cooperation and collaboration with the relevant sector regulators.
NBFIRA Chief Executive Officer Mr. Oaitse Ramasedi expressed pleasure in sharing the monumental event with the Competition Authority. He said the day marked the establishment of formal supervisory relations between Competition Authority and the Non-Bank financial Institutions Regulatory Authority. He further sighted that NBFIRA and Competition Authority began the process of establishing formal cooperation early this year and the signing of the MoU was a culmination of the process.
“The MoU will help define and guide our working relationships in addition to enabling the smooth exchange of supervisory information between us and that such coordination and communication is the basis for promoting robust risk management practices and developing sound supervisory standards.” said Ramasedi. He said that the global financial crisis has reinforced the importance of effective dialogue and collaboration between regulators and supervisory authorities. Mr. Ramasedi further said that the crisis has also provided an abundance of examples highlighting the importance of risk based supervision and cooperation between regulatory authorities.
For his part, the Competition Authority Chief Executive Officer Mr. Thula Kaira said, MoUs create a healthy culture of sharing information for the greater public interest and enable a platform of serving Batswana in a much more informed, efficient and purposeful manner by preventing duplication of efforts. “Our concerns in the non-banking financial sector will likely be in connection with suspected cartels, abuse of dominance and anti-competitive mergers. We may also at some point carry out a competition study to understand the competition dynamics and their effect on growth of a particular relevant market falling within the non-bank financial sector” said Mr. Kaira.
The NBFIRA Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Michael Tlhagwane alluded that the two Regulatory Authorities have similar views on the issue of “Fairness” which is captured in the Competition Authority vision-“Fair Competition for Prosperity” and as outlined in Section 8 of the NBFIRA Act which is to foster fairness, efficiency and orderliness of the non-bank financial sector.
In closing, Mr. Tlhagwane expressed confidence that through efforts and commitment, the Authorities will be able to achieve more and the MoU will lift the partnership to a higher level and will lead to increased benefit of citizens and regulated entities.
