Blue Chip Journal - June 2019 edition

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FPI Financial planning for all The new FPI CEO has big plans Lelané Bezuidenhout, CFP® professional, was recently announced as the new CEO of the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI). The FPI is a Recognised South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) Professional Body as well as the licensing authority for the CFP® marks in Southern Africa through an agreement with the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB). We spoke to her about trends in the industry and what she hopes to achieve for the Institute going forward. On 1 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2019</strong>, Lelané Bezuidenhout assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer at the FPI. Bezuidenhout has 20 years’ experience in the financial services sector. She began her career at a major insurance company where she played various roles especially in the FAIS space. She then joined the FAIS Ombud and gained further expertise in this field. She steadily and systematically climbed the learning pathway and completed her Post-Graduate Diploma 18 www.bluechipjournal.co.za
FPI in Financial Planning and became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®. She’s a proud wife and mother of two boys aged 23 and 17 and she loves nature, often volunteering at Rietvlei Nature Reserve outside Pretoria. While she respects the 40-year heritage of the FPI and the crucial role it plays, she acknowledges that the team needs to modernise the Institute, ensuring that it continues to set and uphold professional standards in an age of constant disruption and consumers questioning the value of financial planning versus automated advice. Financial planning for all Bezuidenhout’s first challenge and opportunity is to stabilise the FPI from the inside. The Institute had a bumpy 2018, with some enterprise risk management issues that had to be dealt with. The board recently adopted the King IV Code on Corporate Governance. Among other changes, the new code will bring about greater stakeholder inclusion in corporate decisionmaking – for better, more sustainable outcomes. A more personal challenge for Bezuidenhout is her desire to raise awareness about the value of financial planning. Ultimately, she hopes that financial planning subjects will become part of the high school curriculum, thereby bolstering the profile of the profession and making it an appealing career choice at an early age. Getting young people on board is non-negotiable: “Our membership base is ageing and lacking transformation,” she says. “It’s important that we focus our attention on younger professionals across all population groups in South Africa.” Indeed, the vision motto for the FPI is “financial planning for all”, as the Institute looks towards 2025 and beyond. Bezuidenhout adds: “We need to ensure that the CFP® curriculum and competency profile is updated to deal with the disruptive technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The human side of the financial planning and advice business is more important than ever – artificial intelligence doesn’t understand human psychology and emotion. At the same time, advisors need to stay up to date with the latest fintech solutions. We must not fear the unknown but embrace it to enhance our business offerings to our clients.” Professionalising the industry Some of the major changes to have occurred in the advisory space in recent years relate to compliance and legislation. With Bezuidenhout’s experience in these fields, she is well-placed to guide the FPI and its members in this space. “It feels as if we are stuck in the eye of a regulatory storm that has been hitting us since around 2002. There is a constant update of regulations from all sides, and it seems like it is never going to stop. But these changes are very necessary to ensure that full effect is given to Twin Peaks regulations and the recent circulated COFI Bill,” says Bezuidenhout. She continues, “The FPI has been and continues to be very involved in working streams at both National Treasury and the FSCA as part of consultation processes ensuring that these regulations focus on professionalising the financial services industry and furthering consumer protection and consumer education.” Barrier to entry Another issue that Bezuidenhout wishes to address is the perceived barrier to entry and access into the financial planning profession. “FPI has recognition of prior learning (RPL) mechanisms in place to ensure that access and entry into the financial planning profession is possible not only via the normal certification route, but also through our Challenge Status Examination route. “We recently reduced the number of years of relevant financial planning experience needed by candidates that hold any relevant NQF 8 qualification and who want to challenge the CFP® professional competency examination (PCE) from 10 years to five years. Should the candidate be found competent in the CFP® PCE, then he or she has access to apply for CFP® professional membership.” Candidates who wishes to obtain professional membership to the Institute via this route can apply for access to the upcoming CFP® PCE via www.fpi.co.za Protection of the term Financial Planning and Financial Planner There seems to be confusion in the consumer space with regards to who can call themselves a “financial planner”. “FPI is actively seeking to protect the term ‘financial planning’ and ‘financial planner’ via legislation (refer to RDR proposals). We recently updated our RFP designation from Registered Financial Planner to Registered Financial Practitioner to ensure that the only designation that is relevant to Financial Planning and Financial Planner, is the internationally recognised CFP® professional designation and that the underlying qualification for a financial planner is pegged at an NQF 8 level,” says Bezuidenhout. Bezuidenhout ended by adding that she is very excited about what the future holds and that the FPI is here to serve its members and the professional, but cannot do this without the support of loyal and dedicated members. She invites all who want to provide comments on what they would like to see the FPI stop doing, continue doing and start doing by emailing her with your comments at CEO@fpi.co.za Lelané Bezuidenhout, CEO, FPI www.bluechipjournal.co.za 19
Page 1 and 2: Issue 72 • June/July 2019 www.blu
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS 7 ON THE MONEY The latest
Page 5 and 6: Actual investors look to the future
Page 7 and 8: FOREWORD We’ve also made the deci
Page 9 and 10: On the money Making waves this quar
Page 11 and 12: The world is changing. Why have emp
Page 13 and 14: 100 % SAVINGS 0% TAX WOULDN’T YOU
Page 15 and 16: COVER PROFILE It has been said that
Page 17 and 18: solutions are well aligned to best
Page 19: 24 32 47 59 91 85 78 63 51 What are
Page 23 and 24: Establish yourself as a financial p
Page 25 and 26: JURISDICTION Nicole Paige, Partner
Page 27 and 28: FOREIGN INVESTMENT The rapid rise o
Page 29 and 30: ESG Setting a precedent Shareholder
Page 32 and 33: HEDGE FUNDS Future value ESG increa
Page 34 and 35: BOUTIQUES Facing the boutique fear
Page 36 and 37: ADVERTORIAL How well do you know th
Page 38 and 39: RETIREMENT FUNDS Smoke and mirrors
Page 40 and 41: Invest in a carefree retirement lif
Page 42 and 43: RETIREMENT In it for the long run T
Page 44 and 45: RETIREMENT GOALS Hustle on the side
Page 46 and 47: ADVERTORIAL Making a dent in the un
Page 48 and 49: INSPIRATION Breaking bad Gerald Mam
Page 50 and 51: EVENTS How behavioural finance crea
Page 52 and 53: EVENTS Andy Hart, financial planner
Page 54 and 55: CLIENT COACHING Meeting the challen
Page 56 and 57: CLIENT COACHING consider the level
Page 58 and 59: INSURANCE Undoing perverse incentiv
Page 60 and 61: FEE MODELS Clarifying value Negotia
Page 62 and 63: LEADERSHIP Who dares, wins The call
Page 64 and 65: TRANSFORMATION No, no, and no Advoc
Page 66 and 67: RETIREMENT SOLUTIONS For a better r
Page 68: Rewarding career opportunities to m

Blue Chip Journal - June 2019 edition

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