ABSTRACT

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is one of only nine central banks around the world with private shareholders. This paper contributes to the understanding of this ownership arrangement by outlining the history and evolution of private shareholding in the SARB since its inception in 1921 to the present day. It considers the reasons for shares having been issued to establish the SARB, and changes in legislation which influenced the SARB’s ownership structure and the roles and responsibilities of the Board of Directors, shareholders and shareholder-elected directors. It also considers some earlier calls for the SARB to be nationalized. The historical overview shows that executive power has always rested with government appointees, while the government has gradually gained more control – relative to private shareholders – over the Board. This paper also confirms that – with respect to monetary policy – ownership of the SARB is purely notional. The SARB’s policy goals and executive powers are derived directly from the government and the Constitution, and neither the shareholders nor the directors appointed by shareholders have a say in the SARB’s mandate, its policy goals, or the conduct of monetary policy. The role of shareholders is limited to matters of corporate governance only.

摘要

南非储备银行 (SARB) 是全球仅有的九家拥有私人股东的中央银行之一。本文通过概述自 1921 年成立至今的 SARB 私人持股的历史和演变，有助于理解这种所有权安排。它考虑了发行股份以建立 SARB 的原因，以及影响 SARB 所有权结构以及董事会、股东和股东选举董事的角色和职责的立法变化。它还考虑了一些早先要求将 SARB 国有化的呼吁。历史回顾表明，行政权力一直属于政府任命的人，而政府逐渐获得了对董事会的更多控制权——相对于私人股东而言。本文还证实，就货币政策而言，SARB 的所有权纯粹是名义上的。SARB 的政策目标和行政权力直接来自政府和宪法，股东或股东任命的董事在 SARB 的职责、其政策目标或货币政策的实施中都没有发言权。股东的作用仅限于公司治理事项。