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Moonstone Monitor - 3 May 2018 |
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They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them
yourself - Andy Warhol |
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From the Crow's Nest |
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FAIS Ombud - New incumbent well qualified for challenges |
A media release from the office of the FAIS Ombud reads:
“I am pleased to announce the newly appointed Ombud for Financial Services
Providers, Mr Naresh Tulsie. Mr Tulsie will take over from Ms Noluntu Bam
effective 1 May 2018.
Mr Tulsie is an Admitted Attorney and holds a B.Comm, LLB and LLM degrees with
specialisation in Insurance Law.
After practicing as an attorney, Mr Tulsie joined Guardian National during 1997
where he was employed as a Senior Legal Advisor. He joined the Office of the
Ombudsman for Short Term Insurance as an Assistant Ombudsman during 2000 where
he remained until 2007.
Mr Tulsie further acted as Legal Director and Group Legal Advisor at the Badger
Group of Companies from 2007 to 2013.
He was appointed as Head of Compliance for Nedbank Insurance (short term) during
December 2013. From July 2015 until 30 April 2018 he served as the Legal Manager
for Nedbank Insurance.
Mr Tulsie is committed to his new venture as the FAIS Ombud and will continue to
work towards protecting consumers, strengthening the integrity of the financial
services industry and building relations with all stakeholders.”
Comment
It is heartening to note the new Ombud’s extensive industry experience and
insurance law qualifications which will stand him in good stead in what has
always been a very important part of the regulatory environment.
The office of the Ombud has always provided practical application/interpretation
of complex legal matters. Outcomes based legislation will offer a far bigger
challenge than the rules based version his predecessor had to contend with.
Objectives of the FAIS Ombud
The chairman of the Short-term Ombud’s Board, Mr Haroon Laher, writes in the
latest annual report:
“…OSTI’s purpose cannot be simply to resolve complaints in the fastest time
possible. Nor is it OSTI’s purpose to resolve complaints by accurately applying
the law. An important and perhaps sometimes overlooked aspect of its purpose is
to resolve complaints on the basis of what is fair. Fairness is a somewhat
nebulous concept and what is or is not considered fair differs from person to
person. Often, the more formality that is applied to the resolution of a
matter, the less fair the outcome seems. If OSTI is able to assist consumers and
insurers in identifying and focusing on the real underlying issues, and it can
get these issues resolved quickly and informally, and without recourse to the
application of stringent legal principles, everyone wins. That is the
overarching purpose of OSTI.”
The FAIS Ombud website says its objective is to “…consider and dispose of
complaints by clients against financial services providers. The process is
procedurally fair, informal, economical and expeditious and its foundation is
equitable in all circumstances.”
Challenges facing new Ombud
Staff morale:
Recent reports in the
Citizen concerned complaints from staff members to the Public Protector
about perceived ‘unethical, unprofessional and abusive conduct towards staff
members’”. The then FAIS Ombud referred the article to the Press Ombud who
rejected the complaint.
Productivity:
The latest FAIS Ombud Annual Report clearly indicates a huge need for revision
of current practices. While the increase in complaints is lauded by all, the
fact remains that, of the 10 846 complaints received, 8 433, or 77.8% were
either dismissed or referred to alternative forums. In the 2016/2017 year, only
1005 settlements were reached, and 68 determinations made. Most of the latter
involved mothballed property syndication cases which had already been partially
investigated.
Procedural Matters:
Criticism of the Ombud’s office came from the FSB Appeal Board, normally chaired
by a retired judge. In the Prigge case, it stated:
“It is not known why the Ombud is unable to deal with matters expeditiously but
one can gather from the file that much time and effort is spent on side issues
and one knows from experience that the determinations are not concise and to the
point.”
From the same case:
“Matters like this (there are other instances) add fuel to the allegation that
the Ombud is biased against financial service providers and sees her role as
champion of disappointed clients.”
Later reviews from the Appeal Board noted similar actions, including the
Waterboer case heard on 27 February 2018 where the Appeal Board noted that “…the
Ombud failed to deal with the matter expeditiously or in a procedurally fair
manner.”.
Potential remedies
Under the Financial Sector Regulation Act, an Ombud Council will act as an
overseeing body which will promote the awareness, accessibility and use of the
entire ombud system, and take steps to improve its effectiveness, including
imposing common standards of best practice and promoting cooperation and
coordination amongst ombuds. The Ombud Council will oversee all ombud schemes,
becoming a “regulator” of ombuds, including making calls on jurisdictional
disputes.
In addition, the Financial Service Tribunal will replace the Appeal Board and
make decisions emanating from applications for the reconsideration of FSCA
decisions, including Ombud decisions.
Conclusion
In theory, it appears that we are heading for better times in terms of problems
experienced in the past. Those entrusted with making this happen will have to
traverse uncharted territory to make it work for all concerned.
Bon voyage. |
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Your Practice Made Perfect |
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Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance releases annual report |
The Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance (OSTI) recently released its
Annual Report on Operations for 2017. Key highlights for the year are
that 9 962 complaints were resolved in an average turn-around time of
131 days with an amount of R87 101 354 recovered for consumers.
Of the 9 962 complaints finalised by OSTI during 2017, the highest
category of claim-type was motor vehicle claims at 49% followed by
homeowners claims at 20%. Commercial claims contributed 7.9% to the
total and household content claims, 6.2%.
Ombudsman, Deanne Wood pointed out that “it’s not surprising to report
that 61% of complaints under homeowners insurance related to storm
damage and other acts of nature”.
Theft and burglary claims amounted to 73% of the claims under household
content insurance. Under commercial insurance 28% of complaints related
to building claims and 25% to motor vehicle claims.
Click here to download the detailed report. |
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Moonstone Compliance Workshops – save the dates
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Moonstone Compliance and Risk Management’s comprehensive, practical
workshops, will run in June 2018.
This year our workshops will be accredited by a recognized body and will
qualify as a CPD activity towards the accumulation of CPD hours as
required by the FSCA.
The workshops will again be facilitated by Billy Seyffert and Alan
Holton and will cover:
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A concise overview of: |
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The Insurance Regulations, the impact and what’s next? |
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The most important Policyholder Protection Rules
considerations |
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Debarments – What has changed? |
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Financial Sector Regulation Act – What is important to
me? |
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The proposed changes to the General Code of Conduct and
the impact on FSPs |
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An in-depth unpacking of the 12 elements of the New Fit
and Proper Requirements and what it will take to comply. |
The workshops will run from 09h00 until 13h00 and take place on the
following dates and venues:
VENUE |
DATE |
East London - EL Golf Club |
5 June 2018 |
Port Elizabeth - PE Golf Club |
6 June 2018 |
Cape Town - The River Club |
18 June 2018 |
Johannesburg - Houghton Golf Club |
19 June 2018 |
Pretoria - Diep in die Berg |
20 June 2018 |
Durban - Coastlands Hotel Umhlanga |
21 June 2018 |
Bloemfontein - Emoya Estate |
26 June 2018 |
Registration is scheduled to open next week. Details will be
contained in our newsletters. |
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Class of Business Training – register today!
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The Act stipulates that a FSP and representative must complete the class
of business (CoB) training relevant to those financial products for
which they are authorised prior to rendering any financial service in
respect of such products.
A key individual must, likewise, complete the CoB training in respect of
the classes of business for which he/she is approved to act as key
individual prior to managing the rendering of any such financial
services.
Who should attend Class of Business training?
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All FSPs, Key Individuals and Representatives appointed after 1 April
2018.
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FSPs, Key Individuals and Representatives who seek authorisation,
approval or appointment for new financial product categories after 1
April 2018.
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Representatives working under supervision as at 1 April 2018, or
appointed under supervision after 1 April 2018.
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Certain exemptions apply, depending on the type of business one does,
and how it is conducted. Please contact your compliance officer if in
doubt.
Who is exempt from Class of Business training?
FSPs, KIs and Reps, authorised prior to 1 April 2018 are considered to
have completed the CoB training in view of their past experience and are
therefore exempt from CoB training, unless they add new products to
their licence.
By when?
A Rep working under supervision on 1 April 2018, or who is appointed
under supervision between 1 April and 31 July 2018, has until
31 July 2019 to meet the CoB training requirements.
As things currently stand, appointees from 1 August 2018 onwards are not
included in this transitional arrangement, and will not be allowed to
conduct business prior to the successful completion of the CoB training.
Who may offer training according to the Act?
Training must be provided and assessed by a Quality Council accredited
educational institution. It is therefore very important that you verify
this prior to contracting with any training service provider.
Moonstone Business School of Excellence (MBSE) is a duly accredited
institution and will provide training in all nine CoB modules stipulated
in the Act. This link also contains details of the various sub-classes
of business.
Format of Training
In order to keep costs down, and cause the least amount of interruption
in your business, CoB training will initially be conducted in e-learning
format.
More information
Visit the Class of Business page on the MBSE website:
http://www.mbse.ac.za/qualifications/class-of-business/
If you require more information regarding the fees and implementation
dates please contact Veronica Grobler on 087 702 6429 or at
veronica@mbse.ac.za.
For information on Corporate Packages, please contact Sheila Olckers on
021 883 8000 or
SheilaO@moonstoneinfo.com. |
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Technologically Speaking
Moonstone Information Refinery
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Social media engagement – what to push to clients |
A
recent international study found that what advisors and
corporate marketing teams push to clients may not be what clients
and followers engage with most. The Hearsay study viewed social
media and content from three views: what clients or followers
prefer, what corporate marketing teams produce, and what wealth
advisors, as well as insurance and property/casualty insurance
agents, push out.
According to Abhay Rajaram, vice president of customer success at
Hearsay, the study found some disconnects and surprises. The
traditional rule of the 70/20/10 [lifestyle/industry/corporate] best
practice that the marketing industry promotes simply doesn’t apply
in financial services area.
Based on their findings Hearsay recommended several best practices
for both corporate marketing teams and advisors and agents,
including:
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Put an entertaining, engaging spin on industry and corporate
content, such as how-tos, what’s new, personal stories of success
and inspirational quotes.
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Share more lifestyle content, which is what most engages
followers. This includes popular trends and obvious and obscure
holidays.
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Leverage automation and industry-specific technology to make it
easier to publish the right content at the right time.
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Keep an open dialogue between corporate marketing teams and the
advisory field.
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Regulatory Examinations
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RE Deadline 30 June 2018 |
The table below indicates who has to successfully complete the RE 5 by
30 June 2018.
Representatives’ DOFA |
RE 5 Deadline |
30/06/2015 – 31/12/2015 |
30/06/2018 |
01/01/2016 – 29/06/2016 |
30/06/2018 |
30/06/2016 – 31/12/2016 |
30/06/2019 |
DOFA refers to your date of first appointment. For instance,
if you were appointed on 1 September 2015, you actually have
two years and nine months in which to pass the RE 5 for
representatives.
Unfortunately, time is now running out for those who are
compelled to pass in less than two months.
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Remember that bookings close about two weeks before the
actual exam, for logistical reasons. For instance, yesterday
we closed bookings for 17 May.
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Not everyone passes at the first attempt. If you wish to
give yourself enough time to re-register in such an event,
bear in mind that you should allow for time for your paper
to be marked and the results sent to you. This means that
you should try and write by 8 June, given that our venues
have always been fully booked in the last few weeks of the
DOFA deadline.
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How to prepare for the REs |
The
FSCA Preparation Guide recommends the following approach:
STEP |
ACTIVITY |
DESCRIPTION |
1 |
Refer to the
mapping document for the exam you are planning
to write. |
This is the map of
the tasks/criteria that will be assessed in your
exam, and it contains a reference to the
relevant legislation that you are required to
study in order to understand the task /
criteria. Appendix A in the Preparation Guide |
2 |
Look at the number
of criteria for each task. |
These are the
knowledge and skill components you require to be
able to perform.
RE 1 has 16 tasks that will be tested
RE 5 has 8 tasks that will be tested
If you have studied all the criteria for every
task, then you would be properly prepared to
write the RE1 or RE5 – whichever exam applies to
you. |
3 |
To prepare for the
exam, you must spend time each day and study the
legislation and supporting training material.
One should systematically select one criteria at
a time. |
Group the criteria
together in groups of 3 or 4 and allocate study
hours per day to prepare. The total number of
hours will individually differ due to ones
circumstances. At least 2 hours per day is the
suggested number of hours. |
4 |
To start, read the
task, and then the first criteria. Then refer to
the legislation for these criteria, and read the
legislation referred to. |
It is important to
first read the legislation so that you can see
what terms are used and how the legislation is
structured. |
5 |
Now refer to the
additional support or training material (for
example the INSETA training material) and study
the section in the training material dealing
with those particular criteria. |
The support
material explains the particular concepts in
simple language so that it is easier to
understand what the legislation is actually
saying and what it means. |
6 |
Then go back to the
legislation itself, and read it again. |
Now that you have
gained a better understanding of what the
legislation is about, you may find reading the
legislation again will make more sense to you if
you didn’t understand it the first time around. |
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Updated Inseta RE study material –
Now available to download |
We recently had a sneak preview of the new RE Learning Material produced
by BANKSETA.
BANKSETA revised the RE Learning Materials that was originally developed
by INSETA in 2014 as a result of the amended requirements contained in
the 2017 Determination of Fit and Proper Requirements that impacted the
content of the study material.
Some immediate observations are that that its written in a user friendly
manner, upfront informs the reader what legislation to have on hand, the
table of contents serves as a good reference guide and the critical
learning outcomes are clearly mentioned.
How to access the latest training material?
Click on this INSETA
link to go directly to the registration page.
Once you have completed the required information, you will be given
access to the Inseta RE 1 and RE 5 study material.
Alternatively, you can download the
RE 5 (reps) and
RE 1 (key individuals) material directly from the Moonstone website
by clicking on the required link. |
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2018 RE Schedules updated |
Please note: Registration cut-off is 11 working days before date of exam. |
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Careers Platform
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Are you hiring? Advertise your position on Moonstone’s Career Platform
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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 51000
dedicated financial decision makers who receive 2 newsletters per week. |
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Our audience is relevant and industry specific: individual and corporate advisors and brokers in the following financial sectors:
Investment, Risk, Healthcare, Banking, Retirement, and Insurance. |
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Featured Positions |
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Broker Consultant:
CIA - Commercial & Industrial Acceptances, KZN Umhlanga - We are
looking for a candidate with at least 5-10 years working experience in
the insurance industry, short term insurance qualifications and RE1.
Read More
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Offshore Property
Consultant:
Salesforce Recruitment Johannesburg and Durban - This is your
opportunity to offer a unique, capital growth investment opportunity to
the market without bumping heads with direct competitors.
Read More
-
International Buy to
Let Sales Consultant:
Salesforce Recruitment Johannesburg and Durban - Join this stable,
Offshore Property Investment House and elevate your sales career to the
next level.
Read More
-
Key Individual:
Destinata Capital Ltd, Faerie Glen, Pretoria & Somerset West - We
have a position for a key individual who is licensed for at least
category 1.8.
Read More
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In Lighter Wyn |
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Social media and tech explained |
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Tel: +27 21 883 8000 | Fax: +27 21 883 8005
info@moonstoneinfo.com
www.moonstone.co.za
P.O. Box 12662, Die Boord, Stellenbosch, 7613, Republic of South Africa
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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©2015 Moonstone. All rights reserved. |