FAIS Supervisor – Financial Advisor

Purpose of the Role:

The FAIS Supervisor plays a key role in supporting their Team Leader and Key Individual (“KI”) by ensuring that all financial advisors adhere to the requirements as provided for in the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (“FAIS”). The role reports directly to the Head of Legal and Compliance, though the FAIS Supervisor who will be trained and managed by the Team Leader and KI, gaining valuable experience and mentorship with a view to ultimately transition into a future KI role. The FAIS Supervisor will act as the primary line of defence in conjunction with the Legal and Compliance Team in identifying and addressing any compliance issues within sales practices, ensuring that the KI’s strategic oversight is well-supported with accurate and consistent monitoring.

This role ensures that sales practices across the financial advisor distribution channels meet legal standards, thereby protecting the company from legal risks and ensuring that all financial advisors operate ethically and within regulatory boundaries.

The FAIS Supervisor is essential in maintaining the integrity of the supervisory process and ensuring that all financial advisors meet the required competencies to be fully independent.

Role Summary:

As the FAIS Supervisor, you will take on the direct supervision of financial advisors, regularly evaluating their sales activities to ensure they meet the FAIS requirements and other regulatory standards.

Your primary focus will be to ensure that financial advisors comply with legal requirements, avoid misrepresentation, and protect customers from mis-selling. You will conduct monthly competency assessments, review sales practices, and ensure ongoing compliance, providing the KI with detailed reports and feedback on financial advisor performance. This data will be crucial for the KI to assess financial advisor competency, identify training needs, and make informed decisions.

You will play a key role in maintaining the integrity of the compliance process, ensuring clear communication with both financial advisors and the KI about performance and compliance issues. By thoroughly assessing sales processes, providing feedback, and identifying areas for improvement, you will help the KI mitigate regulatory risks and create an environment where financial advisors can succeed, achieve their goals, and positively impact the lives of our customers.

Benefits:

• The right candidate will have a clear path for growth into a KI role, with the opportunity to work closely alongside the Team Leader, KI and Compliance Manager. This collaboration will provide valuable hands-on experience in compliance leadership and regulatory oversight.
• Ongoing mentorship and training in regulatory compliance, enhancing skills for future leadership roles.

Key Responsibilities:

Regulatory Compliance Oversight:

• Ensure that all financial advisors adhere to the requirements in FAIS and other regulatory requirements by monitoring their daily activities, reviewing sales interactions, and confirming that legal standards are met.

Competency Assessments and Supervision Management

• Development of Supervision Plans for each financial advisor requiring supervision.
• Conduct regular competency evaluations of financial advisors, assessing their ability to comply with FAIS requirements, demonstrating ethical sales practices, and identifying areas for improvement.
• Maintain and update a competency register.
• Track fit and proper status for each financial advisor, including qualifications, RE Exams and CPD progress.
• Conduct DOFA vetting for financial advisors.
• Draft and manage supervision agreements.
• Provide structured feedback to supervised financial advisors to close competency gaps.
• Extend compliance feedback to non-supervised financial advisors when required.
• Identify training needs and recommend targeted interventions.

Sales Activity Monitoring:

• Review and evaluate sales of financial advisors and transactions, ensuring compliance with FAIS and preventing misrepresentation or mis-selling. Ensure that financial advisors meet all legal and ethical sales requirements.
• Review all replacement sales to ensure the requirements as set out in FAIS are met

Reporting and Feedback:

• Prepare detailed monthly compliance reports for the KI and Executive Team summarising the results of your assessments and feedback on financial advisor’s compliance. Provide actionable recommendations for ongoing training and improvements.

Communication with Financial Advisors:

• Deliver clear and constructive feedback to financial advisors, outlining areas for improvement and reinforcing compliance standards. Set specific expectations for performance, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements.

Financial Advisors and Training:

• Work closely with all financial advisors to identify competency gaps and provide coaching to improve performance. Assist in the development of financial advisors so they can eventually transition from supervision to independent operation.

Documentation and Record Keeping:

• Maintain accurate, up-to-date records of all assessments, evaluations, and feedback sessions, ensuring proper documentation for compliance reviews and audits with company compliance strategies, and address any compliance concerns or issues.

Risk Mitigation:

• Identify potential compliance risks and proactively recommend corrective actions to minimise legal exposure. Support the KI in addressing compliance issues and maintaining the company’s reputation for legal and ethical conduct.

Technical Skills:

• Strong understanding of FAIS, compliance requirements, Fit and Proper Requirements and other applicable financial services regulations.
• High level of proficiency in MS Office, particularly Excel and Word, to analyse data, generate reports, and document compliance activities.
• Skilled in reviewing sales processes to spot any compliance issues and suggest practical improvements.

Soft Skills:

• Strong verbal and written communication skills to effectively provide feedback to Financial Advisors, Team Leaders, Managers, and preparation of detailed compliance reports for the KI.
• A meticulous approach to reviewing sales activities, identifying compliance risks, and ensuring accuracy in reporting.
• Commitment to upholding high standards of integrity and ethical conduct, especially when dealing with sensitive compliance matters.
• Demonstrated capacity for leading, mentoring, and coaching financial advisors while ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.
• Ability to quickly adapt to evolving regulations, processes, and company requirements.

Experience:

• 3+ years of experience in the long-term insurance industry, with a focus on compliance, supervision, or regulatory oversight. Financial Advisor experience would be an added benefit.
• Experience in maintaining a competency register and conducting supervision sessions
• Proven track record in assessing and monitoring sales performance, especially in relation to compliance standards and regulatory requirements.
• Experience providing feedback and performance improvement plans to help financial advisors align with compliance standards.
• Ability to speak and understand multiple languages

Qualifications:

• Minimum NQF Level 5 Qualification (FSCA recognised)
• RE 1 / RE 5: Regulatory exams (Beneficial)
• FAIS-Specific Training, Additional FAIS or compliance certifications are highly advantageous to demonstrate a strong grasp of relevant financial regulations.