FISA elects new Council

The Fiduciary Institute of South Africa (FISA) has elected a new Council following the introduction of a new constitution on 2 December 2011. The new Council members are:

National Chairperson: Angélique Visser
Deputy Chairperson: Graham McPherson
Secretary: Aaron Roup
Eastern Cape Regional Councillor: Wanda Visser
Free State Regional Councillor: Gudrun Boshoff
Gauteng Regional Councillor: Cheryl Howard
KwaZulu- Natal Regional Councillor: Khaya Thango
Western Cape Regional Councillor: Alfred Bester

In terms of the new constitution, FISA was converted into an organisation run by individual members. Corporate membership was done away with, which means the organisation is now led by fiduciary practitioners, who include owners or employees of trust companies, attorneys, financial planners and accountants. There are almost 700 members who collectively manage in excess of R250 billion offiduciary assets, and administer approximately 50% of deceased estates and trusts in South Africa.

Commenting on current FISA initiatives, Chairperson Angélique Vissersaid:

“One of our priorities is to strengthen relationships with the Master’s Offices, the South African Revenue Services, the South African Reserve Bank, and various banking institutions, in order to improve communication and align processes for the benefit of all stakeholders, especially the public.

“We already have a good working relationship with the Master’s Office and would like to develop this further, for example by participating in thepaperless project that the Master’s Office has embarked on. Instead of documents being moved from office to office, they will increasingly be scanned into a system, to which fiduciary practitioners will have online access. This will streamline processes and reduce delays, to the public’s benefit,” she said.