You will recall there were changes in the classes of business (LT & ST) in the Insurance Act that were not aligned to the FAIS requirements which made reporting onerous and difficult.
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) heard the concerns of the industry and published the final amendments to the General Code of Conduct for FSPs, Specific Code of Conduct for FSPs conducting Short-term Deposit business, 2004 and the Determination of Fit and Proper Requirements yesterday.
These amendments were necessary due to the outdated terminology and classes of business (LT & ST) that were used in the F&P Requirements. The amendments now align to the terms used in the Insurance Act.
In addition… all the other changes that the FSCA consulted with the industry on since 2018 re: the GCoC have also been included in the amendments. Like – definitions of advertisement, endorsement, loyalty benefit, no claim bonus, puffery, variation… The definition of independent has also been included. An entirely new section on advertising.
These are substantial changes if you haven’t already started incorporating them yet (some of the concepts were aligned to the PPRs).
The effective dates are as follows:
- General Code of Conduct for FSPs (date of publication – 26/06/2020, save for sections in the annexure that are effective within 6 and 12 months thereafter).
- Specific Code of Conduct for FSPs conducting Short-term Deposit business, 2004 (6 months after the General Code).
- Determination of Fit and Proper Requirements (date of publication – 26/06/2020).
The documents together with the consultation reports, may be located on the FSCA website. The FSCA also confirmed that the Notices had been submitted to Parliament in terms of FSRA and were approved.
Contact us today to assess gaps and changes that your business needs to make to existing processes to align to the changes within the effective dates.
Fathima Khan-Ahmod
Ahmod Consulting 