• Bachelor of Laws (LLB) – University of Pretoria
• Master of Laws (LLM) – University of Pretoria

Pheona Härtel is the Head of Risk, Legal, and Compliance at Strate (Pty) Ltd, South Africa’s primary central securities depository (CSD). She has extensive experience in risk management across multiple disciplines and has worked with several blue-chip financial organisations, both locally and internationally.

Pheona began her career in the pension funds industry before transitioning to the long-term insurance sector, where she worked across various business units. Her expertise spans new product design and rollout for investment and risk-focused insurance products, ongoing product servicing, client distribution (including advisory and intermediary services), claims handling, and other aspects of the product and client lifecycle. She later moved into the investment sector, providing services to local and international asset management firms, Linked Investment Services Providers, CIS Management Companies, and insurers.

She then joined First National Bank, where she held multiple leadership roles supporting FNB’s Retail Banking offerings. During her tenure, she led operational process re-engineering, implemented and expanded compliance and governance principles, and provided strategic risk insights to CEOs and executives. Her focus was on fostering an “anti-fragile” organisation built on resilience and supported by dynamic, forward-thinking risk management methodologies.

Since joining Strate in March 2021, Pheona has played a critical role in servicing South Africa’s financial markets by ensuring the objectives of the Financial Markets Act, 2012, are upheld. As part of a self-regulatory organisation, she and her team develop the CSD’s regulatory framework to enhance operational efficiency, promote transparency, protect stakeholders’ interests, encourage competition, and mitigate systemic risk.

Pheona represents Strate on several financial sector committees, contributing to the stability of South Africa’s financial system. She also engages with international associations and has been invited to speak at global conferences on risks in the post-trade environment and the future sustainability of central securities depositories.