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COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR REPRESENTATIVES Representatives of Financial Services Providers off er f inancial services with respect
to an array of f inancial products and are acting for a variety of diff erent f inancial
services entities ranging f rom insurance and f uneral brokers to investment
institutions, f inancial planning entities and call centres.
In order to protect investors f rom unethical and ill-informed advisors it is important
that standards be set for representatives of Financial Services Providers in terms of
honesty and integrity as well as product and regulatory knowledge.
In 2008 these standards were raised by the introduction of the new Fit and Proper requirements in
terms of the FAIS Act.
Although regulatory reform took place within the Financial Services environment since the
enactment of the FAIS act in 2002, the new requirements introduced were still received by the
industry with mixed reaction. The requirements outlined the route that Financial Services Providers should take to become Fit and Proper and the requirements applicable to Representativesare
illustrated below.
HONESTY AND INTEGRITY
The f irst requirement is honesty and integrity. The personal characteristics of representatives are
clearly very important as clients rely on representatives to guide them honestly with respect to
advice on f inancial services and products. The f it and proper requirements state that a Financial
Services Provider may not appoint a representative when evidence indicates one of the following:
The applicant was found guilty within a period of 5 years preceding the application of
criminal proceedings or liability in civil proceedings by a court of law of f raud, dishonesty,
unprof essional or dishonourable activity or breach of f iduciary duty
Qualification requirements as per date of appointment
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NS
30S
ep 2004 31 Dec 2007
Complete relevant registered skills
programme of 30/60 credits by 31
December 2009
T es as per time limits stipulated
1 Jan 2008 31 Dec 2009
Complete relevant registered skills
programme of 30/60 credits by 31
December 2011
Or
Complete a f ull U ualif ication f rom the
list of recognised U ualif ications by 31
December 2013
T es as per time limits stipulated
1 January 2010 and beyond
Need to complete a f ull U ualif ication
f rom the list of recognised
U ualif ications whilst working under
supervision
T es as per time limits stipulated
30/60 CREDIT REQUIREMENT
The 30/60 credit re V uirement only applies to representatives appointed before 2010. 30/60
Q ualif ication re V uirements are listed in Board Notice 106 of 2008. Where a representative is
responsible for more than one product, only the highest V ualif ication re V uirement should be met.
M INIMUM RECOGNISED QUALIFICATIONS
Q ualif ications recognised by the W egistrar are categorised according to the percentage of V ualifying
criteria matched with the content of the V ualif ication. The categories are as followsX
Generic (denoted by a G) Y Partially matches the ̀ ualifying criteria
Specif ic transitional period (denoted by an S) a Matches 80% of the b ualifying criteria
Specif ic non-transitional period (denoted by SP) c Matches 100% of the d ualifying criteria
All d ualif ications recognised as G, S or SP are approved as minimum recognised d ualif ications.
Holders of S and SP d ualif ications will be ee
empted f rom writing the Level 2 f egulatory Examination.
Q ualif ications recognised as S only apply to the transitional period.
Everyone however is re d uired to write the Level 1 f egulatory Examination irrespective of the
d ualif ication held.
READING THE LIST OF RECOGNISED QUALIFICATIONS
The list of recognised d ualif ications was last amended and updated as per board notice 64 of 2009. It is intended that the list will be updated and re-published every d uarter. The latest amendments
have not been published yet.
The notice consists of several lists depending on the license categories (Cat I, II, IIA, III & IV). There
are also additional lists where d ualif ications are listed that will only be recognised if specif ic electives
or unit standards have been selected as part of the d ualif ication.