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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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The new medical scheme fees tax credit

PwC South Africa publishes a monthly journal providing informed commentary on current developments in the tax arena, both locally and internationally. The April edition contains an informative article on the new treatment of […]

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The real effect of Dividend Withholding Tax

The 30 April 2012 edition of GrayIssue, published by Allan Gray, removes a lot of the myths and hysteria surrounding the tax changes on dividends. The new Dividend Withholding Tax (DWT) replaced Secondary […]

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REs: A waste of time, or empowerment tool?

Shortly after the Investment Indicators went out on Monday, I received calls from two readers about different matters. During our conversations, both echoed the same sentiments: Preparing for these exams did not add […]

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Future Income Loss to FSB

We received a fair amount of all kinds of calculations, based on the FSB statistics. One that differed from the rest considered the financial impact on the FSB’s income, should the pass rate […]

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Transgressions Never Retire

A retired financial advisor received quite a shock when he was ordered to refund a client to the tune of R460 000, as well as interest at 15.5% dating back from 2005. We […]

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The FAIS Ombud and Jaws

The worldwide outcry when a surfer in Australia or South Africa is attacked by a shark, never ceases to amaze and amuse me – the outcry, please note, not the attack. Whether this […]

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How many actuaries a product doth make?

Last week, Gareth Stokes of FAnews ran an interesting article on product development. The article, entitled Distribution* is make or break for life insurers, addressed the issue of product development. A few quotes […]

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As-And-When Commission as the cure for miss-selling

The FSB invited input from 5 representative bodies on a proposed discussion document on “intermediary services and related remuneration.” In today’s article, we focus on one aspect: the considerations concerning risk business, including […]

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Exams around the corner

Compliance report workshop for category I FSPs without a compliance officer. Compliance Reports for these FSPs cover the period 1 January 2011 until 31 December 2011 and need to be submitted ELECTRONICALLY to […]

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