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 Lawrence, has once again compiled a levy calculator to help you check your obligation. This will be made available as soon as the Gazette is published.
Please note that all authorised FSP’s, in other words active FSP’s on record at the Registrar’s office as at 31 August 2012, will be legally liable to pay levies. Licensees with licenses which are suspended/withdrawn on 31 August 2012 and have their licenses reinstated thereafter, will also be invoiced for the 2012 levy period in full.
It appears that this is the next important date on the calendar of those who employ reps, or who wishes to exit the industry. The reps register at this date will be used to determine your obligation. The regulator indicated that it will monitor data to ensure that FSPs do not remove reps from the register in order to reduce the levy, and then replacing them later. This constitutes dishonesty, and can have serious repercussions.
The following actions are required before 31 August 2012:
- Update your representative register on the central register (all enquiries relating to representatives register must be emailed to moses.mthimunye@fsb.co.za and shebhambhalane.lebese@fsb.co.za);
- Inform this office in writing if you have discontinued your business, merged with another company, work for somebody else and stopped doing business and would like to lapse your licence (all lapse requests must be e-mailed to genevieve@fsb.co.za ). Please note that if you want to keep your licence and you are not operating, you are still liable to pay the annual levy.
- It is also important to notify this office in writing if you have a license as a sole proprietor and hold another FSP license in the name of a company [(Pty) Ltd] and you would like the sole proprietor license to be lapsed.
- No license automatically lapses unless you notify the Registrar in writing.
Where applicable, ensure that you have submitted the correct total value of investments under management, should you be an investment manager or LISP (Category II, IIA or III FSP);
In Monday’s Investment Indicators we look at the levies from a broader perspective.
