Specialist: Legal & Advisory (FAIS) at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• To provide defined fiduciary end-to-end advisory services on all aspects of estate planning, wealth management, formation and administration of domestic and cross-border trusts and companies and dedicated planning for any complex, local and cross-border assets to clients in Relationship Bank, Corporate and Investment Bank, Retail Bank, and all other distribution channels as per Absa’s Non-Banking Financial Services Advice and Fulfillment strategy pertaining to Fiduciary Services and Products. Training to Bankers and Financial Advisers in order for them to identify opportunities to deliver the total Client Value Proposition to their clients.

Job Description

Advisory Services:

• Assist in providing identified Advisory services to High Net Worth clients of the Group and Bankers/Financial Advisers on fiduciary matters that fall within the ambit of the Financial Planning Institute (FPI) and the Fiduciary Institute of South Africa (FISA), with specific reference to Estate, Retirement and Insurance Planning.
• Assist in providing support in the usage of Wealth Planning techniques and structuring vehicles.
• Assist in drafting Estate Planning and Business Assurance proposals.
• Consult directly with the Bankers/Financial Adviser who liaises with clients.
• Provide support in the drafting of Wills and Trusts. Alternatively ensure that Wills and Trusts drafted by Absa Trust are according to the client’s needs and instructions given to Absa Trust.
• Provide specialised Advisory services to High Net-Worth Clients of the Group and Bankers\Financial Advisers or other stakeholders on Legal, tax and other complex financial planning matters that fall within the ambit of the FPI and FISA.
• Provide technical training in the specialised area of Wealth Planning techniques/skills to the Bankers.
• Support technical interpretation and usage of Wealth Planning structuring vehicles.
• Estate Planning Proposals, Trust Audit, and or Ownership Structure Proposals.
• To consult directly with clients and related Private Banker/Financial Advisers.
• As part of a national multi-disciplined Centre of Excellence, to assist other Specialists with experience and knowledge, as well as peer-reviewing any written advice to clients.
• To provide Regional Management with high-level knowledge of technical financial planning and estate planning aspects.
• To provide expert inputs as required in strategic projects/initiatives, forming a key part of the wealth planning intellectual capital in Absa Trust.

Stakeholder Management:

• Build strong relationships with both global and local internal and external stakeholders.
• Effectively communicate developments within areas of activity to all relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure impeccable and timeous service levels.
• Liaise with various Business Unit Heads within Absa Group.
• To liaise with Absa Trust Legal and Compliance to ensure alignment within Absa Trust in the areas of technical legal and compliance matters.
• To liaise with Absa Group specialists (i.e., Absa Group Tax, Absa Group Legal, Absa Trust, BPB&T, Wealth Advisory, etc.) to ensure alignment within Absa Group regarding all relevant technical matters.
• To liaise with our international partners in providing their offshore offering to High Net-Worth Clients.

Revenue Generation:

• Manage the commercial profitability of the Legal and Advisory Specialist team to ensure accomplishment of set revenue targets.

New and Revised Wills Target:

• Ensure the quality inflow of new segmented business from distribution channels (Private Bank and Business Bank by monitoring Sales Statistics from the relevant sub-segments.
• Ensure sales targets are met within all targeted distribution channels (Relationship Bank, Corporate and Investment Bank, Retail Bank, and all other distribution channels), by managing weekly and monthly statistics (i.e., results in conjunction with the management of above segments). Any divergences of the statistics will necessitate action planning with the segments in order to achieve the sales target.
• Send Will Applications directly to the Wills Drafting Office of Absa Trust.
• Review all Will Applications received via other channels (Relationship Bank, Corporate and Investment Bank, Retail Bank, and all other distribution channels) thoroughly i.e. the application form has been completed in full and that instructions to draft the Will is clear and free of any ambiguity before sending the documents to the Wills Drafting Office for drafting.
• Ensure that a proper Estate Plan is executed for the client by utilising different Estate planning tools such as Trust: Inter Vivos. Living. First Dying, Agencies and corporate structures.

Filing of Signed Wills:

• Maximise the safe custody of all signed Wills by training all Relationship Bank, Corporate and Investment Bank, Retail Bank, and all other distribution channels in terms of importance of having customers / clients Wills in safe keeping, thus ensuring a further stream of income to Absa Trust.
• Check that all signed Wills lodged for Safe Custody meet with the Legal requirements of the Wills Act by checking the correct execution thereof and the content and structure of the document.
• Coach all delivery channels on the Legal requirements on the execution of Wills by attending and advising in formal training covering legal aspects of Wills – this training is facilitated by Absa Learning and development on an ongoing basis. Thus, ensuring the Absa Group is not any risk for incorrectly executed documents.
• Ensure that the signed Will is filed in the Safe Custody office within the agreed turnaround time (i.e., from drafting to filing), by completing a transmission sheet that encloses all the Wills lodged for Safe Keeping to the Wills Control Centre. Check on a monthly basis the receipt from the Wills Control Centre balances to what has been sent to them.

Trusts (Inter Vivos., Living, First Dying, and Agencies):

• Advise and where applicable, create a Trust either Living or Inter Vivos depending on the needs of the client by completing a Trust application form and by obtaining all relevant Financial Intelligence Centre Act and Client Acceptance Screening Application requirements and the submission thereof to Absa Trust: Trust Division for the drafting of the said document.
• Ensure personal sales targets are met after mutual agreement by management on both Inter Vivos and Living Trusts, by training and coaching Relationship Bank, Corporate and Investment Bank, Retail Bank, and all other distribution channels on the knowledge of the product and the implication to tax saving and family protection. This will necessitate that correct sales' leads are received from Absa Trust in order to meet with personal sales targets.

Customer Service:

• Deal (telephonically, electronically, written communication, correspondences, and face to face) with clients both internally and externally on a professional basis to ensure that a high standard of customer service is given.
• Resolve customer complaints relating to the Fiduciary Industry (Wills, Trust and Estates) and ensure customer complaints are addressed and that the client is satisfied with the outcome within a period within 24 hours. Contact the client and ensure that the matter has been resolved.
• Build and maintain a relationship with various stakeholders (i.e. Relationship Bank, Corporate and Investment Bank, Retail Bank, and all other distribution channels) by continuously engaging and ensuring satisfactory client service and good relations.
• Escalate complaints, where complex matters cannot be resolved, relating to the Fiduciary Industry (Wills, Trust and Estates) to the Area Manager: within 24 hours.
• Drive a professional client services culture in the Absa suites / branches, by managing the turnover time of Wills drafted and the quality thereof (i.e., Wills that are forwarded to the Wills Drafting Office till the receipt thereof is within the Service Level Agreement times and that spelling errors within the document are corrected on the same day.)

Compliance:

• Adhere to ABSA compliance requirements and industry related legislations in order to maintain a high standard of service.
• Adhere to business processes and controls practice. non-adherence may lead to disciplinary actions.
• Complete all compulsory compliance and legislation training within the required timeframes as prescribed by Absa Risk.
• Adhere to risk and compliance policies in terms of Environmental Health and Safety, Information Security, Records Management and Money Laundering, Sanctions etc. Non-adherence to Absa's Policy and Procedures may lead to disciplinary action.
• Perform all other duties as reasonably assigned articles for colleague and Advisers.

FAIS Fit and Proper Requirements Applicable to this Role (Advice and Intermediary Service):

• FSCA-Approved Qualification
• Regulatory Exam for Representatives (RE5)
• Experience As Per the FAIS Act
• Product Specific Training once Onboarded
• Class Of Business Training
• Continuous Professional Development
• Attest To Honesty, Integrity, and Good Standing
• Postgraduate diploma in Financial Planning

Education

• Bachelor's Degree: Law, Bachelor's Degree: Taxation