Cybercriminals ramp up their attacks on tax practitioners

SARS responds to reports of hackers accessing practitioners’ eFiling profiles, removing clients, and changing banking details.

The end of the innocence

When the Eagles recently visited our shores, I was one of the first to book my seat for a trip down memory lane with songs I still know off by heart. The title […]

Top SA financial journalists honoured at Sanlam Awards

Investigative journalist, Lindokuhle Xulu of Financial Mail, has scooped the Financial Journalist of the Year award at the Sanlam Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism which were presented in Johannesburg on Tuesday night. […]

Where does FAIS find itself?

Amongst others, the objective of the FAIS Act and subordinate legislation may undoubtedly be summarised as the professionalisation of the financial services industry as well as the protection of financial services consumers. As […]

Exemption from Submission of Audited Financial Statements

Readers may recall that certain categories of FSPs were allowed to apply for exemption from the obligation to submit audited financial statements. The deadline for such applications was 31 May 2012. Bronwen Allan, […]

What happens after 30 June 2012?

The industry appears to be anxiously waiting for an answer to this question from the FSB. There are certainly guidelines about what can happen, but will the circumstances call for a new approach? […]

FSB Workshops for 2012

Registration for the FSB workshops opened at 09h00 today. Most of these will be telematic broadcasts, similar to those held last year. We were asked to assist with the distribution of DVDs for […]

FSB Levies for 2012/2013

The FSB announced the levies payable for 2012/2013 in Board Notice 101 of 2012 last week. My colleague, Paull Lawrence, updated his levy calculator with the latest data. This can be used to […]

FSB and Ombud levies announced

The proposed increase in levies is between 8% and 10%. The announcement from the FSB, prior to it being gazetted, also contains guidelines for those who intend leaving the industry. My colleague, Paull […]

Credits and Competence

RE Credits Over the last two weeks we received a number of enquiries from readers regarding the regulatory exams and credits. How many credits do I need to to qualify to write the […]

Protecting clients against themselves

This past weekend’s Personal Finance saw a lot of cover given to the dilemma of retirees outliving their retirement savings, particularly those making use of living annuities. Old Mutual launched a new Retirement […]

Compliance Report 2012: Shark scare for Sole Prop

A Moonstone Protector client received a notification from the FSB regarding the submission of his annual compliance report. The following sentence concerned him, and he contacted us: “In terms of the provisions of […]

Unsustainable Growth a major concern

The latest GrayIssue from Allan Gray contains some sobering thoughts on a ticking time bomb that the government appears to be ignoring in their quest to stay in power. For some time we […]

Income – consider the risk/return trade-off

Investors looking for income should consider the risk/return trade-off. All investments aim to generate a return, but there is a corresponding level of risk that impacts the return. Many investors rely on being […]

FSB Directive on Outsourcing of Business

The purpose of this directive is to “…direct long-term and short-term insurers (‘insurers’) to comply with the requirements set out in this Directive when outsourcing an aspect of their long-term and short-term insurance […]

Submission of Compliance Reports

FSB FAIS Circular 5: Submission of Compliance Reports and Financial Statements This document contains important information about compulsory returns every FSP should take notice of. The non-submission of financial statements and compliance reports […]

Avoid Unrealistic Client Expectations

It may be small consolation for local advisors, but a recent survey in Australia found that nine out of eleven risk profiling tools were found to be inadequate in terms of their regulator’s […]