Madeleine Ronquest is the Head of Environmental and Social Risk Management in the FirstRand Group and her portfolio includes Eco-footprint Management, Green Finance and positive impact banking, Climate Change and Environmental and Social Risk Management in financing and investment.

Her professional background includes environmental science, risk management and environmental law. Her role is to ensure that FirstRand is positioned as one of the business leaders in climate change, natural capital management, positive impact banking, responsible investment and sustainable development finance. It is imperative that the Group plays a pertinent role in leading South Africa into a low carbon economy and that it has a verifiable positive impact on the economy, the environment and society.

She is an eternal student and an international speaker and has taken leadership roles in the Global Steering Committee and other board committees of UNEPFI (United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative), the South African Advisory Committee on Environment and Society (National Business Initiative), the NBI Advisory Committee on Green Finance, and the Sustainable Finance Forum of the South African Banking Association (BASA)