Nehru Pillay

Nehru has over 25 years experience as an economist, research manager and academic.  He has sound banking regulatory experience working in the South African Reserve Bank and Central Bank of eSwatini and applied economics experience from working as a research assistant at the IMF in Washington DC. 

He is currently the General Manager of economic research and business intelligence at the Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa (Land Bank) where he oversees all agriculture finance research and the development and execution of ESG policies and procedures for the Bank.  Nehru was instrumental in ensuring Land Bank join with 29 global banks to develop the UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking (aligning to the SGDs and Paris Agreement).  This culminated in September 2019 when Land Bank became a founding signatory to the PRB.  He has played a leadership role within the UNEP FI PRB Project co leading the implementation working group and subsequently co leading the Peer Learning Working Group and Collective Progress Working Group

Nehru holds a Bachelor of Business Science Degree from the University of Cape Town and a Master of Commerce Degree in Economics from the University of Pretoria. He continually strives to improve his understanding of Sustainability, Sustainable Finance and Climate Finance having recently completed the inaugural Climate Safe Lending Fellowship programme, which equips senior banking professionals with leadership skills and techniques to lead change from within their institutions.