Sponsored by Bowman Gilfillan Africa Group

Finalists
Aspen Pharmacare
Exigent
Road Accident Fund
South African Reserve Bank

Winner: South African Reserve Bank

South African Reserve Bank's legal department has played a key role drafting three important international agreements for South Africa: the treaty for the establishment of a BRICS contingent reserve arrangement and the subsequent inter-central bank agreement; a bi-lateral currency swap agreement with China; and an agreement to harmonise the financial and payment systems within the Southern African Development Community.

The BRICS treaty involved an initial commitment of $100bn (£66bn) in order to provide mutual support between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa thereby relieving short-term balance of payments pressures and boosting global financial stability. Because South Africa co-chaired the treaty's working group with Brazil, the legal department was required to take a lead role in devising the legal framework for the treaty and its recommendations were supported by the other BRICS countries.

The treaty was signed by the BRICS heads of state in July 2014, in Fortaleza, Brazil, and the inter bank agreement was signed by the central banks in Moscow, Russia, in July 2015. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi said: "These initiatives will support growth and stability in BRICS and also benefit other developing countries."

One awards judge observed: "It is a privilege to be privy to details of transactions of national and international importance, handled by an in-house legal department which has such an impact at both a national and international level."

Pictured from left to right: Kabelo Mohale and Kogilan Pillay, senior legal counsel, Chris van der Walt, deputy general counsel, South African Reserve Bank; Charles Douglas, head of M&A, Bowman Gilfillan Africa Group