South Africa's financial planning population seventh biggest in world
The Chairman?s Award for lifelong outstanding contributions to the financial planning profession was awarded to Wessel Oosthuizen (left) with FPI Board Chairperson, Gerhardt Meyer
The Financial Planner of the Year Award recipients and members and partners of the FPI. From left to right, Wessel Oosthuizen, Laura du Preez, Jan Carel Botha, Warren Ingram and Shaun Latter.
International financial planner reveals state of South Africa’s financial planning industry in face of economic downturn at annual FPI Convention
Internationally acclaimed financial planning professional, Karen Schaeffer, revealed today at the annual Financial Planning Institute’s Convention, held in Johannesburg, that the need for competent financial planners is growing at a rate of six percent globally per year. This is based on the need for increased consumer protection, which comes as a result of the global financial crisis. In South Africa, the number of Certified Financial Planner® professionals (CFP®) is more than 3700, making it one of the largest financial planning hotspots in the world.
“The economic downturn was a wake-up call for consumers. Studies have shown that those who worked with a financial planner felt more confident in their existing strategies, which is reflected in the growing numbers of CFP professionals around the world. At the end of 2010, there were nearly 134 000 Certified Financial Planners worldwide. We’re seeing tremendous growth, as high as 52 percent, in territories like China, Brazil, India and Indonesia. In terms of overall numbers, South Africa now has the seventh largest population of CFP professionals,” says Schaeffer.
Karen Schaeffer is a top international financial planner and Chairperson of the Council from the international parent body, the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB). Schaeffer, keynote speaker at this year’s annual FPI Convention, spoke about the FPSB’s efforts to establish financial planning as a distinct profession, similar to both medicine and law, in line with global developments.
Some of the global trends currently impacting the financial planning profession include the move towards a relationship-based approach between financial planners and their clients, with holistic service offerings, and regulatory change.
“As the global financial crisis highlighted the need for increased protection for consumers, regulators, including the Financial Services Board (FSB), are looking for ways to increase transparency, disclosure and improve the duty of care given to consumers. Regulators want greater consistency for best practices, which has opened dialogue about consumer protection, governance, transparency, and professionalism around the world,” says Schaeffer.
The event held at the Sandton Convention Centre, which saw top international and local financial planning professionals get together to discuss the latest trends and hot issues in the financial planning industry, focused on how financial planners can obtain the leading edge during a period of rapid change. Other speakers included Kokkie Kooyman, one of South Africa’s most successful asset managers, who provided delegates with insights into global investing. Kevin Lings, senior South African economist, gave an in-depth update on the international financial markets in light of the recent global crises.
Two of the highlights of the event was the first FPI Induction Ceremony for new members and the Gala Dinner where members active in promoting the financial planning profession were recognised and duly awarded, held on the first day of the Convention.
The recipient of the prestigious annual Financial Planner of the Year award was Mr Warren Ingram, Executive director at Galileo Capital.
Mr Wessel Oosthuizen, who is currently the Director of the University of the Free State's (UFS) Centre for Financial Planning Law in the Faculty of Law, was awarded the Chairman’s Award for lifelong outstanding contributions to the financial planning profession.
Nr Nico van Gijsen, Managing Director of Finlac, was awarded the first FPI Media Award to recognise an FPI member who is actively involved with, and has made outstanding significant contributions to, the media (print, broadcast or online) to promote financial planning.
Other award winners include:
Top Students for the FPI’s board exams: RFP™ professional board exam, Mr Alex Cook, AFP™ professional board exam, Ms Suzette Naude and CFP professional board exam, Mr Ruan Schroder.
The FPI Annual Convention is facilitated by LexisNexis, South Africa’s leading provider of knowledge-driven business solutions
About the Award Winners
Warren Ingram: Financial Planner of the Year 2011
Warren is one of the founders of Galileo Capital and is an Executive Director. He is responsible the financial planning division and has been a financial planner since 1996. He is passionate about providing independent advice to private individuals.
Warren hold a B.Soc Sc (Economics), Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning and is a CFP professional. Has been in the private client financial services industry for 10 years and was most previously employed by HSBC Bank (Plc) in South Africa where he was responsible for their Wealth Management division.
He is a regularly quoted in the financial media and writes columns about investments in a range of publications. In his spare time he is a devoted husband and proud father of two Staffordshire Terriers as well as an avid runner and fly fisherman.
The FPI also acknowledges the other finalists for the Financial Planner of the Year Award 2011:
Shaun Latter
After gaining extensive experience in the financial services industry, specifically financial planning, on both a strategic and technical level, Shaun has turned his attention to private client advice where he specialises in Investment and Estate Planning.
His previous role was as a Financial Planning Coach with acsis where he coached and worked alongside some of the country’s top Financial Planners. Prior to joining acsis, he was a Marketing Manager in Old Mutual’s Broker Distribution division and also worked as an Executive Business Consultant while in KZN.
Shaun holds a diploma in Business Management as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning and is a CFP professional
In addition to this, he has completed two Advanced Postgraduate Diplomas in Estate Planning as well as Asset Types and investment instruments and has recently become a Certified Life Coach.
Shaun is passionate about sharing with others what he has learnt over the years, not only professionally but also as an investor himself. In addition to having hosted the popular money show “Financially Speaking” on CNBC Africa , he holds a wide media presence with regular contributions on radio, in print and online. His public speaking profile has also seen him address thousands of people on a variety of public platforms
Shaun is married to his beautiful wife Bridget and has 2 gorgeous daughters, Abigail and Olivia. Shaun is a passionate outdoorsman who loves to share the beauty of the outdoors with his family and is an avid fly-fisherman.
Jan-Carel Botha
Jan-Carel holds a B. Com degree in Economics (UNISA) and a post graduate diploma in financial planning through the University of the Free State. He is a CFP professional member of the FPI.
He has a strong drive in getting financial planning recognised as a profession by the larger public, hence his involvement as member of the FPI, in the FPI Northern Regional Committee. His role there is to promote and give guidance to members on practicing as professional planners.
Jan-Carel has been a fee based professional financial planner throughout his career. He is part of the financial planning team at Ultima Financial Planners which is also home to a former FPI Financial Planner of the Year. In May 2010 Jan-Carel has also been nominated as one of three finalists of this award.
As professional fee based financial planner he typically charges fees for holistic financial planning and managing of clients’ financial interest. His passion is to change the lives of people through sound financial planning and reaching their financial goals reliably over time!
Jan-Carel has been a guest speaker on numerous platforms to the larger public on various topics of financial planning which includes being a guest on Summit TV’s show, The Summit Investor and also regularly features as co-host of Wealth Through Financial Planning on local radio station, Impact radio 103FM. He is also regular guest speaker to corporate companies and members of pension and provident funds on specific issues of financial planning.
Jan-Carel believes that constant improvement and adoption of global best practices in financial planning is of essence to stay relevant and offer clients lifelong peace of mind!
