Herman has worked in financial markets since 1992 as both an economist and investment strategist. He was chief economist at BoE Securities (previously known as Senekal, Mouton and Kitshoff) in the late 1990s and then spent time as investment strategist at ING Barings, Citigroup and Renaissance Capital (previously known as BJM Securities). He was South Africa’s Economist of the Year in 1998 and has been rated in the top five of the Financial Mail Investment Analyst ratings during most of his sell-side career, holding the number one or number two investment strategist position several times. Herman joined Momentum Asset Management in May 2013 and currently heads up asset allocation at Momentum Investments. Herman holds B Com (Actuarial Science), B Com (Hons) (Economics) and M Com (Econometrics) (Cum Laude) degrees from Stellenbosch University. 

Goolam is the chief economist and head of research for the Standard Bank Group. 

Goolam and his team consistently earn accolades for macroeconomic, financial markets, and political 

research. 

The team has been rated the Best Research House for coverage across African markets in 8 of the past 9 

years in the coveted Financial Mail Ranking the Analysts survey. Goolam is also a past Top SA Economist 

award winner.

Goolam’s interest spans politics, the macroeconomy and financial markets, and he regularly engages in public 

dialogue across the globe

Kopano reports on Southern African economies from Johannesburg, South Africa. She covers everything from central banks to treasuries. Kopano has reported on South Africa's struggling economy, landmark national elections as well as currency fluctuations and market moving decisions made across the Southern African region. Before joining Reuters Kopano worked as a broadcast journalist. She has a masters in journalism from Columbia University in the City of New York. 

Dr Rashad Cassim is the Deputy Governor and an MPC member of the South African Reserve Bank since 2019. He is responsible for the Financial Markets, International Economic Relations and Policy, National Payment System and Legal Servies departments.

He has also served as the Head of the SARB’s Economic Research and Statistics Department and Chief Economist from March 2011 until July 2019. Before joining the SARB, he was the Deputy Director-General at Stats SA responsible for economic statistics. From 2003 until 2006 he was a professor and Head of the School of Economics and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. Before this he was the head of Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies and held various research positions at the University of Cape Town. 

Molefe Lenyai is the Head of FX Trading at Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), with nearly 20 years of experience across global and frontier foreign exchange markets. He has built a career specializing in G10 currencies, African currencies, and market making ZAR FX (spot and forwards).

At RMB, Molefe leads strategic trading initiatives and brings a nuanced understanding of both developed and emerging market dynamics. A passionate advocate for the FX industry, he has served on the board of the local ACI Financial Markets Association, promoting professional standards and market development. Molefe brings a pragmatic and forward-looking perspective to the panel discussion on the evolution of the FX market, offering insight into emerging trends, structural shifts, and the challenges facing market participants today.

Albert is the Emerging Markets Business Development Manager for LSEG FX. With +20 years’ experience gained across the Emerging Market OTC Trading, FX business, Albert is currently based in the UK and takes a responsibility for market development across LSEG’s EM franchise in Central Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

Joining Reuters in FX in 2002 working in strategic markets and moving to the Middle East in 2010 Albert has been responsible for growing trading communities, across MENA. For the past 4 years, Albert has worked at developing emerging markets trading communities working with local and leading financial institutions to enhance their FX propositions. Albert is responsible for the growth of FX Matching & LSEG FXall.

Albert holds a BA Hons from the University of Greenwich and a MBA from the University of Roehampton. 

Sanju Jose, Head of Consulting Innovation, LSEG.

Sanju has broad spectrum knowledge about financial markets across APAC, EMEA & Americas as he has spent the last 24 years working closely with Customers, Regulators and partners. In his current role he aims to leverage his advance knowledge about Financial Market Ecosystem and domain expertise on Capital Markets and Data & Workflow Solutions, to identify, explore and create solutions which are solving current and future problems utilising evolving technology toolkits. Sanju has built his career around solutions consulting and product management. Sanju is passionate about Innovation; mindset that enables one to excel consistently in generating new and practical ideas and successfully executing them.

Haniksha is a Senior Manager at Deloitte, specialising in financial crime compliance, AML/KYC transformation, and data-driven risk management.

She advises leading financial institutions across Africa on managing financial crime risk in an increasingly complex global landscape, including sanctions screening, onboarding, and transaction monitoring.

Her work focuses on delivering practical, data-driven solutions that strengthen financial crime controls, improve decision-making, and enhance regulatory resilience in complex risk environments.

Lerato specialises in aspects of financial services law and regulation. Her areas of expertise include banking, financial markets, consumer credit, anti-bribery and corruption, and anti-money laundering (including regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings). She also has expertise in advising on Fintech-related legal issues and the legal implications of disruptive financial services-related developments (i.e. payments, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings and smart contracts). She has represented corporate clients in various regulatory engagements, making representations to the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, Prudential Authority as well as, representing corporate clients before the national consumer tribunal.

Lerato regularly advises local and foreign financial institutions, payment service providers and fintechs on a broad range of regulatory topics impacting the financial sector. She also advises on financial products, product development, regulatory licensing and structuring of agreements.

Her expertise has been recognised by Chambers Fintech.

Lerato has a Certificate in Foundational Payments from the Payments Association of South Africa, a Certificate in Anti-Money Laundering Control (cum laude) from the University of Johannesburg, a Postgraduate Diploma in Cyber Law (cum laude) from the University of Johannesburg, an LLM (honors) from Emory University School of Law and an LLB from the University of Cape Town. She is also authorised to practice law in the USA.

Johan Hetzel is a seasoned compliance leader with over a decade of expertise in Anti-Financial Crime, Compliance and risk management across the banking, crypto, and money remittance industries.

Johan is the Global Head of Compliance & Anti-Financial Crime for Luno, a global crypto exchange, managing a team of circa 60 team members across eight jurisdictions being, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia. Prior to taking on this role, he was the Head of Anti-Financial Crime for Luno’s global operations, managing all aspects of Anti-Financial Crime. In this capacity, he managed the Anti-Money Laundering, Counter Terrorist Financing and Counter Proliferation Financing team, the Anti-Fraud team, Market Surveillance team, Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the Account Defence team (phishing, fraudulent websites / social media pages etc.) as well as the Analytics team. 

Johan has led multiple teams globally covering Australia, Botswana, France, Indonesia, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Singapore, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland,  United Kingdom, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Johan was also the Co-Programme Director, as part of the Board, for the ACAMS South African Chapter for three years. In addition, he is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) with ACAMS, a member of the Institute of Commercial Forensic Practitioners and a registered Commercial Forensic Practitioner (FP(SA)). He is an affiliate member of the Compliance Institute of Southern Africa. Johan has an honours in Bcom Forensic Accountancy from the North-West University of Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Shantal Michael is Head of Innovation and AI Strategy for Investec Wealth & Investment International, where she leads the adoption of future-ready financial solutions across wealth and investment management.

With a strong background as an investment manager and a proven track record in digital transformation, Shantal brings deep expertise in innovation strategy, client-centric technology, responsible AI, productivity, and inclusive growth. She partners technology with client outcomes, helping turn complexity into clearer decisions, strengthen trust, and place real-world client scenarios at the centre of how innovation is adopted.

An applied systems thinker and futurist, Shantal is passionate about building solutions that improve how people live and work. She is energised by advancing inclusion across the industry and is known for thriving in persistent discomfort: relentless about progress, driven by continuous reinvention, and deliberate about leaving a lasting legacy for the next generation of leaders.

Recently recognised among the 100 Influential Women in Tech 2026, Shantal is a sought-after voice on the future of investing, the human side of technology, and how established financial institutions can turn change into lasting advantage.

Patrice Rassou is the Chief Investment Officer at Ashburton Investments. He is responsible for Ashburton’s investment philosophy and investment process and manages key funds in the Ashburton portfolio. He is a seasoned investment professional with three decades of experience, having worked for some of the most reputable local asset managers.

He is a Chartered Accountant and holds a BSc (Econ) First Class Honours, an MSc (Economics) from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Manchester Business School. He is a regular investment and markets commentator in the media. He is passionate about sustainable investing and studying the impact of technology on the world of work. He is the past treasurer of ABSIP Western Cape.

Francois Combrinck is a respected consultant and Managing Director of FrameAML, with over two decades of experience in financial crime compliance, business analysis, and technology implementation across South Africa’s leading financial institutions.

He is recognised as a trusted advisor and thought leader in the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT) space, with a proven track record of building sustainable, high-performing teams and delivering complex regulatory technology solutions.

He is also a regular speaker at industry events and widely regarded for his strategic insight and operational excellence.

James Saunders is a technology entrepreneur and risk intelligence innovator with a background in Pure Mathematics and Computer Science. Over his career, he has founded and scaled multiple technology businesses, specialising in large-scale data analysis platforms, automated decision systems, and complex risk modelling solutions.

As co-founder of BusinessOptics, an AI solutions company, James worked at the intersection of data, analytics, and intelligent automation, building systems designed to improve operational efficiency and decision-making. His experience spans financial crime technology, computer vision, security systems, robotics, mobile auditing, and enterprise planning platforms across both financial and energy sectors.

Today, James focuses on how technology partnerships, intelligent data ecosystems, and AI-enabled platforms can help organisations modernise compliance operations, strengthen risk detection capabilities, and scale regulator-ready frameworks across KYC, transaction monitoring, and third-party risk management.