FSCA (SA) Financial Regulator
What it is and what it does
Trading safely doesn’t just mean looking for a good broker. Paying attention to a broker’s credentials is the real test of whether the service is legitimate or not. The regulators that provide licenses and approve brokers should also be carefully investigated before investing or trading. If you are considering signing up with a broker that has an FFSCA license, read this report first.
What Is the FSCA SA?
The FSCA SA, used to be known as the Financial Services Board. It is the leading financial regulatory organization in South Africa and protects against money laundering and other fraudulent activity such as broker scams. FSCA is an abbreviation for the Financial Sector Conduct Authority. It is recommended that investors in South Africa avoid working with brokers and other financial services that are not regulated by the FSCA.
The FSCA is in charge of regulating the following:
- Insurers
- Hedge Funds
- Retirement funds
- Investment Brokers
- Capital Markets
The FSCA regulates all legitimate brokers in South Africa. It is known as a regulatory body that has fairly high standards. Those who want to be registered as brokers or money managers must have the proper accreditation required by the FSCA. In many cases, this may include a special exam or other credentials.
Those who are approved to operate as brokers according to the FSCA regulations must provide mandatory and periodic disclosures of activity and sufficient information. Advertising must not make exaggerated or misleading claims. Projected performance, for example, can be spoken in general terms, not in specific monetary amounts for certain assets.
Those who are approved by the FSCA must outline the risks that their clients will face in the trades. Also, brokers must be transparent about all pricing and fees. The purpose of these thorough guidelines is to prevent customers from being duped by fraudulent practices.
In addition to having the right qualifications and agreeing to the disclosure of information through regular reports, brokers regulated by the FSCA must pay fees to the FSCA to maintain their license. In addition, the FSCA site has a list of registered financial services for customers and an area where customers can file a complaint.
Schedule a Consultation
Fill in your details and one of our representatives will contact you within 1 business day.
Changes in FSCA Structure
As mentioned above, the FSCA was once known as the FSB. The changes that occurred, however, were not in name only. Many FSCA-regulated brokers are working hard to catch up with the multiplicity of changes. The chief reforms were as follows:
- The FSCA takes full responsibility for providing education to customers. It will ensure that customers understand the financial products they are purchasing and that advertisements are not misleading
- The FSCA wants to ensure that customers are financially stable and are not going to lose large quantities of money. If customers start to experience dramatic losses, the FSCA may take charge of the situation.
- FSCA will disseminate information about these changes to all of the companies they regulate
- FSCA’s main goal is the development of the South African financial market.
Although the announcement of these reforms was relatively abrupt, the board explained that these changes will occur gradually to give companies the chance to adjust. The website outlines all legislative changes in PDF documents by category.
The ambitious nature of the changes and their scope means that brokers will have to provide customers with tools to learn about their investments, visibility, transparency, and guidance to ensure they will reap significant returns.
In addition, customers of FSCA regulated brokers will be shielded from unscrupulous tactics, the pressure to invest in an asset class they are unfamiliar with, and a lack of transparency about policies and fees as well as deceitful advertising about expected returns.
FSCA’s Enforcement of Regulations
The FSCA’s plan is not a mere vision statement; it has been quite active in spotlighting fraudulent practices and enforcing penalties. Its most recent actions have been catching insurance fraud and penalizing a large number of securities fraud violations.
The FSCA prosecutes violations in its financial services tribunal. It enacts several types of penalties for violations from initial warnings, to fines and removal of licenses. The record of the FSCA demonstrates a vigorous enforcement of its guidelines and penalties for those who violate them.
Although new regulations aim to project investors, FSCA does not as of yet have state-backed investor protection. The new regulations indicate that the regulatory body may step in and help investors who are losing a lot of money, but there are not set amounts like there are in other countries.
Conclusion
The FSCA, formerly the FSB, is a reliable regulatory organization and has high standards for initial licensing, ongoing requirements and adherence to guidelines. The FSCA is clear in its commitment to protecting the trader and aims to provide educational resources to those who use financial products and recourse for action if something goes wrong.
Anyone who has a complaint with any broker registered with the FSCA can file a complaint on the website. The FSCA has a track record of dealing with major cases of fraud and taking disciplinary action.
Although the FSCA is a regulatory body that has exacting standards, there is no guarantee that a broker who is registered by the FSCA is going to be 100% honest. It is always important for every customer to do their due diligence before signing up with any broker.
It is important to look closely at what services the broker is offering, check for transparency about fees and withdrawals and be careful about terms and conditions. Ask questions of the broker and note how they respond. If they seem forthcoming, it is a good sign. However, if they are evasive or will not answer, that is a red flag.
If you want to ensure that a broker registered with the FSCA or any other regulatory body is legitimate or if you have been scammed by a broker who will not return your money, Trader Defence Advisory can help you recover your funds and can provide tools to prevent you from falling victim to fraudulent financial practices in the future.