SARS pays back R10bn, but some taxpayers’ refunds are being withheld

Taxpayers should inform SARS if they have been unemployed for a full year or longer, to avoid being flagged as non-compliant.

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Debarment Guidelines Withdrawn

The document titled “Guideline on the Determination of Reappointment of Debarred Representatives”, published on 13 July 2011, was withdrawn in a notice published on Friday, 20 October 2017. No reason for the withdrawal was given, nor was […]

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Justice for All?

Was justice fully served in the Oosthuyzen case before the High Court in Bloemfontein last month? From the perspective of the plaintiff, possibly yes, albeit it 7 years later. Delayed, but at least not […]

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Sasria and Santam to Empower Municipalities

Sometimes, desperate times call for innovative ideas, rather than desperate measures. Sasria has signed an agreement with Santam to join their “Partnership for Risk and Resilience” (P4RR) programme to facilitate increased collaboration between […]

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Remorse and Forgiveness

Reviews of decisions by the Registrar and the FAIS Ombud tend to take a slightly more formal and legalistic approach. In the case of the FSB, particularly, it also provides insight into cases […]

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NCR smacks BMW

Views ‘on-the-road-costs’ as not being in line with prescriptions On 3 August, we published an article on the National Credit Regulator’s (NCR) media statement, warning vehicle financiers (being registered credit providers) that they […]

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Trends in Motor Insurance

At the launch of the 2016 Annual Report from the Short-term Ombud, she elected to deviate slightly from the usual statistical analysis to highlight some interesting trends from the report with particular reference […]

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New steps to curb Churning

The Retail Distribution Review (RDR) of 2014 contained several comments that expressed concern about the negative effects of “churning” which it described as “inappropriate or unnecessary replacement of policies driven by intermediary incentives”. […]

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Information Regulator Update

The Regulator held a media briefing on 20 September to bring the media up to speed on developments in her department. Regulations Draft Regulations were published for public comments on the 8 September 2017 with a […]

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Benefit payments from life insurers

ASISA reports that, despite strong economic headwinds, South African life insurers honoured claims by policyholders and beneficiaries worth R458 billion in the year ended 30 June 2017. This represents a 9% increase in benefits paid, compared […]

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Herman Pretorius RVAF Update

A recent article in “Die Burger” reports on the first liquidation and distribution accounts in respect of the Herman Pretorius/Relative Value Arbitrage Fund matter. In total, the RVAF handled investments totalling R2.2 billion, and […]

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Appeal Board upholds Ombud Decision

In June we reported on three new cases to be heard by the FSB Appeal Board. One of these concerned a complaint that was dismissed by the Ombud but the client, an advocate, […]

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Living Annuity Statistics

The August ASISA Dispatches provided the following information on Living Annuities. The 2016 Living Annuities Survey statistics were finalised in August. The survey showed that living annuity policyholders withdrew on average 6.62% of […]

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FIC Amendment Act Implementation Update

The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) Act has been amended with the first set of provisions coming into effect on 13 June 2017. These provisions do not have any effect on accountable institutions. The next set […]

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Addressing Assumptions about POPI

We are not Google, so why should we care about data privacy? Let’s not beat about the bush. Complying with data privacy laws can be expensive and POPI is no exception. So it […]

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Health Market Inquiry Update

Investigations into the health market by the Competition Commission appear to have hit a bit of a hitch. A media statement confirmed that the “Revised Administrative Timeline”, published on 1 December 2016 has been withdrawn […]

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Unclaimed Retirement Benefit Search Engine

The Financial Services Board made this facility available on its website this week. I was obviously curious about whether the Kruger millions were not possibly hidden in a pension fund somewhere and promptly […]

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