Formidable Challenges: Harvesh Seegolam

Looking back on his career, Harvesh Seegolam uses the same phrase to describe the many obstacles he overcame. He calls each one of them, almost fondly, a "formidable challenge".

One such formidable challenge arose almost as soon as he was appointed Governor of the Bank of Mauritius in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

"When I stepped into the office, I recall very vividly, everything was operating normally," he tells The CEO Magazine. "But less than two weeks after joining the office, the world came to a halt."

He had anticipated a certain degree of difficulty in the new job. As the top executive of Mauritius’ central bank, he would be responsible for the country’s financial stability and ideally, his decisions would lead to an increase in development and investment. But the pandemic’s disruption of the global economy was a predicament he never could have imagined.

"I’ve been lucky to be able to serve the country at a time when the country needed to be served the most."

At just 37 years old, Seegolam was the bank’s youngest-ever Governor, and far below the usual age for central bank leaders around the world. He knew he had a lot to prove, and the sudden economic shock of the pandemic only raised the stakes. But he wasn’t phased.

"That was a formidable challenge that was being put in front of me," he says. "The pandemic gave me an opportunity to demonstrate that even at the toughest of times, we have to be able to put our efforts together to preserve our economy and continuously deliver on the mandate, while ensuring that there is confidence in the financial and banking system."

Seegolam swiftly implemented a twofold plan to modernize Mauritius’ monetary policy and promote the country as an international financial center. Fortunately, he had been laying the groundwork for these plans throughout his career, and he was finally in a position to fully realize them.

"I’ve been lucky to be able to serve the country at a time when the country needed to be served the most," he explains. "We all went through the pandemic and overnight, central banks were pushed to the forefront around the world, and that coincided with me taking office."

Creating a Global Financial Center

Seegolam entered the world of finance in Mauritius in 2006, after studying abroad for years. Following stints at a commercial bank and at the national airline, he joined the Board of Investment of Mauritius – a government agency that promotes investment in the country.

"I was leading on everything related to financial services. My job really was to make sure people across the world understand the role of Mauritius as an international financial center in terms of cross-border investments and trade finance facilities," he explains.

The job gave him an opportunity to collaborate with various stakeholders in the finance sector, from multinationals and insurance companies to local banks like the Mauritius Commercial Bank.

Next, he was tasked with setting up and leading the country’s Financial Services Promotion Agency, aimed at promoting Mauritius as an international financial center.

When that agency was merged into the Economic Development Board, Seegolam was given a new formidable challenge as head of the Financial Services Commission, a national regulatory body. In that role, he oversaw the regulation and licensing of non-banking financial activities in the country, from insurance to corporate finance.

"I had to ensure that Mauritius, as an international financial center, was being led in the correct direction from the regulatory perspective," he says.

He also developed a 10-year blueprint for the development of the country’s financial sector, and launched a separate regulatory committee for financial technologies.

"It was really the starting point for Mauritius in its journey on the fintech side of things, to embrace innovation-driven financial services," he adds.

Most recently, Seegolam was appointed Chairman of the Financial Services Commission – Mauritius by the Prime Minister, which means he is now at the helm of the Mauritian central bank in addition to the regulatory entity overseeing non-banking financial services.

Positioning Mauritius for the Future

While grappling with the effects of the pandemic, Seegolam faced another challenge: negotiating the removal of Mauritius from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray list.

Just a month before he took on the governorship of the Bank of Mauritius, the country came under increased monitoring related to the potential presence of laundering and terrorism financing.

"I had that formidable challenge of leading the Mauritius team throughout the negotiations with the FATF, and ensuring that Mauritius exited that gray list as soon as possible," he remembers. Looking back, he is proud of what he achieved.

"Normally, countries are given 24 months to exit the list. Through teamwork and dedication, we managed to exit that list within 16 months. Today, Mauritius is one of the very few countries in the world to be largely compliant with all 40 recommendations of the FATF."

"We’ve been among the very first central banks in the world to have introduced a dedicated climate change center."

Shepherding the bank through that process has freed up some of Seegolam’s time to focus on building for the future. As part of his mission to solidify Mauritius as an international financial center, he has established a new Climate Change Centre within the bank.

"We’ve been among the very first central banks in the world to have introduced a dedicated climate change center, and whenever I speak with other fellow counterpart governors from other parts of the world, they all look at this model that the Bank of Mauritius has rolled out, and they want to replicate it," he says with pride.

As his next formidable challenge, Seegolam wants to promote Mauritius as an international payment center. Working closely with other central banks, primarily in Africa and India, he aims to reshape the payment landscape to be more useful and accessible to ordinary people, small businesses and people sending cross-border payments and remittances.

"This is something that is very important, and I remain very convinced that this is really the way forward for Mauritius," he says.