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Investment Indicators - 29 January 2018
In This Week's Newsletter
Rates Review
Investment Rates
Money Market Funds
Top 3 Rates
 
From the Crow's Nest
Continuous Professional Development - Important considerations before you proceed
 
Your Practice Made Perfect
New Binder Fee Regulations Bring Consistency – Moneyweb article provides synopsis of new regulations for NMIs
Professional Principal Executive Officer Qualification – Time running out for those wishing to enrol for 26 February intake
 
Regulatory Examinations
Updated 2018 schedules
Important Regulatory Exam Information
 
Careers Platform
Are you hiring? Advertise your position on Moonstone’s Career Platform
Featured Positions
 
In Lighter Wyn
Unintended consequences of Western Cape drought, and an honest Ponzi scheme...
Paul Kruger 2016-10-31
Paul Kruger Author/Editor
 
 
 
 

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Quality begins on the inside, then works its way outside – Bob Moawad
 
Please connect with us: www.moonstone.co.za pkruger@moonstoneinfo.com or 021 883 8000

 
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What if you could focus on doing what you love - looking after your clients?

Leading Independent Financial Advisory (IFA) practices are using GTC’s Strategic Partner solution to:

   - increase time with clients
   - increase earnings
   - reduce costs

Shouldn’t you too?

Our staff and systems deliver exceptional service, increasing revenues and saving costs and time for you, enabling you to build value for succession.

With offices nationally, we are well-placed to help you.

Call us to discuss a strategic partnership.

t. +27 (0) 10 597 6831
e. info@gtc.co.za
w. www.gtc.co.za

An authorised Financial Services Provider FSP no. 731
Rates Review
Top 3 rates
 1. Secured Investment Rates
Please note that (G) indicates a Guaranteed and (L) a Linked product. In order to understand the difference between guaranteed and linked rates, kindly click here for an explanation.
 R 100 000
 
 
 
     
  Company This Week Last Week
1 Clientéle Life (L) 6.910% 6.760%
2 1Life (L) 6.880% 6.710%
3 Absa (L) 6.754% 6.576%
     
 R 1 000 000
     
     
  Company This Week Last Week
1 Clientéle Life (L) 7.010% 6.860%
2 1Life (L) 6.880% 6.710%
3 Assupol (G) 6.850% 6.680%
     
 2. Money Market Funds
  Company This Week Last Week
1 Prudential 8.040% 7.720%
2 Cadiz 7.960% 7.870%
3 Allan Gray 7.900% 7.900%
Please bear in mind that our figures, though based on the actual quotations that you also use, are for information purposes only, and can never replace the official quotation from the product house. In terms of the guarantees, you are requested to clarify the exact extent of such guarantees with the product house prior to advising clients.
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From the Crow's Nest
From the Crow's Nest
Continuous Professional Development
Important considerations before you proceed
By Alan Holton
In a nutshell

In terms of Section 32 of Board Notice 194 of 2017 (Determination of Fit and Proper Requirements for Financial Services Providers, 2017), every sole proprietor, key individual and representative must comply with the minimum Continuous Professional Development (CPD) requirements set out in Sections 31 to 34 of the Board Notice (see link below). Section 33 sets out the minimum number of hours of CPD activity required in each CPD cycle. A CPD cycle is defined and means a period of 12 months commencing on 1 June of every year and ending 31 May of the following year.

Who is exempted?

The CPD requirements do not apply to Category I FSPs, key individuals and representatives that are authorised, approved or appointed only to render financial services or manage or oversee financial services in respect of Long-term Insurance sub-category A and/or Friendly Society Benefits. In addition, the CPD requirements do not apply to any representative of a Category I FSP that is appointed to render a financial service only in respect of a Tier 2 financial product and/or render an intermediary service in respect of a Tier 1 financial product. (For details of Tier 1 and Tier 2 Financial Products, please refer to Annexure 3 of Board Notice 194 of 2017).

What is CPD?

The term “CPD activity” is defined and means, inter alia, an activity that is accredited by a Professional Body but excludes any activity performed towards a qualification or product specific training.

The term “professional body” is also defined, and means a body recognised by the SAQA as a professional body for purposes of the National Qualifications Framework Act, 2008.

In brief, this all means that, commencing on 1 June 2018, all FSPs, FSPs (sole proprietors) key individuals and representatives (other than those that have been exempted by the provisions of Section 31(2)) must begin their CPD training and must complete the minimum number of hours before 31 May 2019. (See Section 33 of the Board Notice for details of the hours required).

Specific obligations on each FSP

In terms of Section 32(2) every FSP must establish and maintain policies and procedures on CPD that include details of how the FSP, key individual and representative will maintain knowledge and skills that are appropriate for their activities and responsibilities, update their knowledge and skills and develop new knowledge and skills to assist with their current functions and responsibilities or functions contemplated in the future.

These policies and procedures must include training plans for each CPD cycle to ensure that CPD is relevant and appropriate for the authorisation, approval and appointment of the FSP, key individual and representative, must addresses any identified needs, knowledge and skills gaps and must continually seek to improve the professional standards and practices of the FSP, its key individuals and representatives.

Beware the Ides of May

Each person who undertakes a CPD activity must be able to show that, in choosing the activity, these issues were considered and found to be present to some extent in the activity.

There are two cautionary notes to be considered by FSPs, key individuals and representatives before undertaking any CPD activity on offer:
  1. Has the entity that offers the activity been accredited by a Professional Body? If not, the activity is worthless from a CPD point of view. Standing to be corrected, the only Professional Bodies that seem able, at this stage, to accredit any activity that may be appropriate to the financial services universe, are the Compliance Institute of South Africa, the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa, the Institute of Risk Management South Africa and the Insurance Institute of South Africa.

  2. Does the activity satisfy one or more of the following the criteria (see Section 32(1)(c)):

    • Is the activity relevant to the functions and role of the person in question?

    • Does the activity contribute to the skill, knowledge, expertise and professional and ethical standards of that person?

    • Does the activity address any identified needs or gaps in the technical knowledge of the individual who has chosen the activity?

    • Does the activity address any identified needs or gaps in his or her generic knowledge and understanding of the environment in which the financial service is rendered or managed or overseen?

    • Does the activity address the individuals’ knowledge and understanding of applicable laws?

This short summary does not deal with the CPD record keeping requirements and all FSPs are encouraged to read Sections 31 to 34 of the Board Notice insofar as CPD activities are concerned. It is important to bear in mind that the Conduct of Business Return that will replace the annual Compliance Report (probably in 2019) will almost certainly ask for proof that all CPD requirements have been met – both by individuals concerned and by the FSP itself.

Alan Holton is an independent compliance officer who consults to Moonstone Compliance on a regular basis.
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Discovery Invest offers clients 10% additional income for three years

Discovery Invest is offering clients 10% income in addition to their quoted annuity income amount on the Discovery Fixed Retirement Income Plan, before tax, for the first three years of their policy. This in-retirement product allows clients to select their guarantee period, such as 10 years. Clients can select for their annuity payments to continue to be paid to their surviving spouse upon their death, if this occurs before the end of the guarantee period.

Discovery Invest can only provide the additional income on all new investments taken out before Saturday, 31 March 2018.

Disclaimer:

This article is meant only as information and should not be taken as financial advice. For tailored financial advice, please contact your financial adviser.

Discovery Life Investment Services Pty (Ltd): Registration number 2007/005969/07, branded as Discovery Invest, is an authorised financial services provider. All life assurance products are underwritten by Discovery Life Ltd. Registration number: 1966/003901/06. An authorised financial service provider and registered credit provider, NCA Reg No. NCRCP3555.

 

 
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Your Practice Made Perfect
Your Practice
New Binder Fee Regulations Bring Consistency
An article in Moneyweb titled New insurance rules offer more protection, less bias discusses the introduction of a binder remuneration cap of 9% in amendments to the long- and short-term insurance regulations which became effective on 1 January 2018.

“Binder holders are third parties, who act as “front faces” for insurers and perform specific functions related to any type of policy. Per the respective Long-term and Short-term Insurance Acts, binder holders may perform the following functions on behalf of insurers:
  1. Enter into, vary or renew a long/short-term policy (excluding a long/short-term reinsurance policy)

  2. Determine the wording of a long/short-term policy

  3. Determine premiums under a long/short-term policy

  4. Determine the value of policy benefits under a long/short-term policy

  5. Settle claims under a long/short-term policy

The amended regulations mean binder holders, authorised to give advice under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (Fais) Act, may receive a maximum of 9% in remuneration. The fee comprises 3.5% for entering into, varying or renewing policies, which may be increased to 5% should the aforementioned functions include determining policy wordings, premiums or benefits. A provision of 4% is made for settling claims, while binder holders who simply determine wordings, premiums or benefits are not entitled to a fee.”

Moonstone Compliance and Risk Management notes that that the binder fee caps referred to above apply to those Non-Mandated Intermediaries (NMIs) authorised for advice, or those NMIs who are associates of NMIs who are authorised for advice.

For all other binder holders (UMAs and NMIS not authorised for advice), the following stipulations from Regulation 5.7 applies:

(1) When remuneration is provided by or on behalf of an insurer to any person for rendering a binder function:
  1. such remuneration must be reasonable and commensurate with the actual cost of performing the binder function, taking into account the nature of the function and the resources, skills and competencies reasonably required to perform it;

  2. the payment of such remuneration must not result in the person being remunerated more than once for performing a similar function on behalf of the insurer and/or policyholder;

  3. any actual or potential conflicts between the interests of policyholders and the interests of the person receiving the remuneration must be effectively mitigated; and

  4. the payment of such remuneration must not impede the delivery of fair outcomes to policyholders.

Click here to read the full Moneyweb article.
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Professional Principal Executive Officer Qualification
Registration is now open for candidates who want to enrol for the first intake on 26 February 2018.

The Professional Principal Executive Officer Qualification is a much-needed stimulus for the professionalisation of the role of the Principal Officer which has historically been unstructured and undefined. It will also support the very important transformation imperative as it enables learners to obtain a qualification which may have been inaccessible to working individuals, as well as those unable to satisfy traditional Higher Education access criteria.

Moonstone Business School of Excellence (MBSE) is the first duly accredited training provider to offer this qualification.

Given the very important role played by Principal Executive Officers within the governance structure of a retirement fund, it is surprising that, up to now, very little was available in the form of a duly recognised NQF level 7 qualification for those performing this function, or those aspiring towards it.

This occupational qualification will form the apex of the retirement functionary learning path and will be linked to the Principal Officer Association (POA) professional designations.

Who should register?
  • Current Principal Officers, trustees and retirement fund functionaries.

  • People working in a claims or employee benefits and compensation environment who have access to a retirement fund.

Successful learners will be linked to the professional designations offered by Batseta, the professional body for the profession. The learning pathway will include the Retirement Fund Trustee qualification.

Registration

You are welcome to speak to Frans Petrus Zeelie at 087 702 6429 who will gladly assist.

To register, click here, then on Enrol today and finally on the Professional Principal Executive Officer button.

For more information, please click here. You can also email us on at learning@mbse.ac.za.
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 Regulatory Examinations
Regulatory exams banner
2018 Schedules updated

Please note
: Registration cut-off is 11 working days before date of exam.
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Important Regulatory Exam Information
In terms of our mandate from the FSB, we are not allowed to promote or endorse any training service provider, hence I am unable to disclose details of the author of the very important information below.

After nearly three years of public and corporate-wide consultation, the revised and updated Fit and Proper Requirements were published on 15 December 2017, with variable implementation dates. This included a thorough review of the Qualifying Criteria (content requirements) upon which the Regulatory Exams for key Individuals (RE1) and Representatives (RE5) are based.

There are still 16 Tasks or sections for the RE1 exam and 8 for the RE5 exam, but there are a significant number of new Qualifying Criteria and of course the updated FICA legislation is now incorporated, where applicable.

This has led to important changes to the Regulatory Exam requirements and therefore, of course the Regulatory Exams, the study material and bank of MCQ questions.

Common sense suggests that taking the exams before 1 April 2018 will be wise and I do recommend and encourage those who need to complete these exams to do so sooner rather than later i.e. before 1 April 2018.

With the benefit of hindsight we can also suggest that you leave yourself sufficient time to rewrite in the event that you not pass at the first attempt. Seats are filling up very fast, so please make sure you register in time.

Contact details

Email enquiries should be addressed to faisexam@moonstoneinfo.co.za. You can phone us on 021 883 8000 - select option 2 to speak to one of our consultants.

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Careers Platform
Are you hiring? Advertise your position on Moonstone’s Career Platform
Careers Platform Packages

•   The Moonstone website - www.moonstone.co.za - enjoys an average of 20 000 visits and approximately 39 000 page views per month.
Moonstone boasts an exclusive newsletter mailing list of over 49000 dedicated financial decision makers who receive 2 newsletters per week.
Our audience is relevant and industry specific: individual and corporate advisors and brokers in the following financial sectors: iInvestment, Risk, Healthcare, Banking, Retirement, and Insurance.


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Featured Positions
  • Compliance Research & Developer: Moonstone Compliance, Stellenbosch - The successful applicant will work closely with the R&D Manager and will be registered as a compliance officer under supervision with the FSB. Read More

  • Senior Regulatory Compliance Manager: Clientèle Limited Group, Johannesburg - The successful incumbent will be responsible for proactively and constructively assisting the Clientèle Group in managing its responsibility to comply with all relevant regulatory requirements and minimise compliance risks. Read More

  • Commercial Underwriter: HIC Underwriting Managers, Bedfordview - Join our dynamic team if you are Fais compliant with 120 credits and 5 years of experience. Read More

  • Insurance Field Sales Reps: Quantum Invest, Nationwide - We are looking for field Reps nationwide. RE5 qualification is recommended. We offer a competitive commission structure. Read More

  • Financial Advisor: Kaizen Solutions, Gauteng - We are currently recruiting an unlimited number of individuals aged 25 to 35 who are sales driven, motivated, ethical and dedicated. Read More

  • Senior Credit Controller: CIA Building Insurance, Bedfordview, is currently looking for an experienced credit controller to join our finance team. Read More

  • Short Term Insurance Underwriter: JFA Shortterm Brokers CC, Milnerton, Cape Town - If you have a minimum of 3 years experience and, live in the vicinity of the brokerage, then Read More

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In Lighter Wyn
In Lighter Wyn
An honest Ponzi scheme and unintended consequences of Western Cape drought

At last! An honest Ponzi scheme

Thanks, Jeff Corbett

http://ponzicoin.co/home.html



Not a fake tan


Nuwe Afrikaanse uitdrukking

Die 2018 leerplan vir Afrikaans Huistaal bevat ‘n wysiging vir leerders in die Wes-Kaap. Die uitdrukking “Drink soos ‘n vis” sal voortaan hier lui: “Drink soos ‘n hert in dorre streke.”
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Tel: +27 21 883 8000   |   Fax: +27 21 883 8005
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Disclaimer: Services and products advertised by external product suppliers in this newsletter are paid for by the respective suppliers. Moonstone does not endorse any opinions, conclusions, data, products, services or other information contained in this e-mail which is unrelated to the official business of Moonstone and furthermore accepts no liability in respect of the unauthorised use of its e-mail facility or the sending of e-mail communications for other than strictly business purposes.

The complete disclaimer can be accessed here.
 
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