Julian Davids joins Mazars Financial Services and Advisory to launch new division
Johannesburg - Respected industry regulatory specialist Julian Davids has joined Mazars Financial Services and Advisory (MFSA) in South Africa to spearhead the new Banking Risk and Regulatory Services division, launched to bolster the company's service offering beyond auditing and cater to the growing advisory demands from the country's burgeoning financial services and banking sector.
"The South African banking sector is awash with innovation and disruption, with numerous digital-native challenger banks entering the space to disrupt the established players and various major financial services providers investing significantly to leverage their established platforms to pivot into the traditional banking space," explains Davids.
With so many players competing for a share of South Africa's thriving banking market, where 85% of adults in the country now have a bank account according to World Bank data, Davids says the competition for customers is hotting up, with smaller banks looking to carve out a niche with unique offerings to attract clients.
"Many smaller players and startups have yet to reach the critical mass needed to employ full-time regulatory advisory teams, which is an opportunity for to MFSA to expand its current offering beyond auditing services."
South Africa's progressive and multi-faceted regulatory regime is also dynamic, with a raft of legislative changes scheduled to take effect in the coming years, with the Basel IV regulations and the prudential treatment of bank exposure to crypto assets the next major changes set to impact the sector in 2025 and 2026.
Davids elaborates: "Banking providers at every level need to navigate an environment characterised by regular changes and updates, which requires expertise and experience that MFSA is now positioned to provide."
With more than 30 years of banking sector experience, Davids specialises predominately in regulatory reporting to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and Prudential Authority (PA) in accordance with the country's Twin Peaks regulatory regime.
His experience includes but is not limited to Pillar III (Reg.43 Disclosure), Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP), Basel and Bank of International Settlement (BIS) knowledge, Risk Data Aggregation and Risk Reporting (RDARR), Basel Training and BA Automation and other regulatory expertise.
Davids gained vast regulatory experience while working at various local and international banks, including First Rand Bank, Mercantile Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank.
In addition, he spent several years in the audit environment working in the regulatory audit and advisory services space, where he had the opportunity to travel to Europe and across Africa.
More recently, he was part of a team that assisted in the bank build process at South Africa's largest digital bank, Tyme Bank, where he spent more than five years as the head of regulatory reporting to ensure that the bank was compliant during its challenging nascent period.
Since launching, Mazars now has the capacity and skill set to offer risk and regulatory advisory services to banks where MFSA does not already perform audits.
"As a division, we embrace diversity, growth and development, constant learning, and full commitment to the success of the business," concludes Davids.
Leave a Comment