The Ombud for Financial Services Providers is proposing not to increase the Office’s levy for the 2026/27 financial year.
The Ombud, Advocate John Simpson, this month published for public comment his Office’s proposed budget and levies for the coming financial year, as required by the Financial Sector Regulation Act.
The Financial Sector and Deposit Insurance Levies Act, which commenced on 1 April 2023, provides for the imposition of levies on supervised entities to fund the FAIS Ombud. Table E in Schedule 5 to the Act sets out the formula for calculating the FAIS Ombud levy.
The formula comprises a base amount and a variable amount. The variable amount is calculated by multiplying the levy per key individual (KI) and representative by the average total number of KIs plus the average total number of representatives, calculated from 1 September of the preceding levy year to 31 August of the current levy year.
The FAIS Ombud does not propose increasing the base amount of R1 100 or the levy of R722 per KI and representative.
It is also proposed that the cap on the maximum levy payable remains at R333 275.
The Levies Act allowed the FAIS Ombud to raise a special levy in the first two years of its enactment to cover establishment costs. The levy is no longer applicable to the Office’s funding.
For the 2026/27 financial year, the FAIS Ombud is budgeting for gross income of R99.072 million (2025/26: R92.54m), operating expenditure of R95.119m (R90.57m), and capital expenditure of R3.953m (R1.97m), resulting in a breakeven position.
The budgeted gross revenue of R99m comprises mainly of levies, which account for 93.3% (Budget 2025/26: 94.4%) of the gross income.
The operations expenditure budget of R95m comprises staff expenditure of R58.782m (2024/25: R55.399m) and general expenditure of R36.336m (R35.171m).
Staff expenses represent 62% of the total expenditure budget, which the Ombud attributed to the Office being a service-driven organisation with personnel costs being the main cost driver.
Comments on the proposed budget must be submitted on the template available on the FAIS Ombud’s website to comments@faisombud.co.za by 4pm on 24 October.
Click here to download the FAIS Ombud’s draft 2026/27 budget.
