In his State of the Nation Address, presented to a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament (National Assembly and National Council of Provinces) on 11 February 2016 at 19h00, the president announced the establishment of a Centre of Excellence in Financial Services:
“Compatriots, we are proud of our Top 10 ranking in the World Economic Forum competitiveness report with respect to financial services.
Maintaining and indeed improving our ranking is important to our competitiveness as a country. It is also fundamental to our ambition to become a financial centre for Africa.
The banks, through the Banking Association of South Africa, are to launch a project aimed at establishing a centre of excellence for financial services and leadership training. This will ensure that as a country we can attract, nurture, develop and retain the best talent in financial services in our country and across our continent.
They will work with the Minister of Finance and National Treasury to get this done. We believe that this will over time ensure that we can expand the pool of financial skills and broaden the job opportunities for many young people. This strategic project from the banking sector is a positive and encouraging outcome of our engagement with business this week. Together we move South Africa Forward!”