The Fiduciary Institute of Southern Africa (FISA) is well known to professionals in various fields, including fiduciary practitioners, financial planners, accountants and lawyers. FISA is the only professional body focusing solely on fiduciary practitioners in Southern Africa. FISA is a non-profit organisation that represents fiduciary practitioners and sets high minimum standards for the industry.

FISA members do estate planning, draft wills, administer trusts, deceased estates, and beneficiary funds, supply tax advice and compliance services, and administer client assets.

FISA members collectively manage several hundred billion Rands. They draft several thousand wills each year and administer around 50 percent of deceased estates reported to the Office of the Master of the High Court.

Here are some of the areas of FISA’s leadership in the fiduciary sector in South Africa:

The Annual FISA conference

This conference is well recognised now as the forum where academics and practitioners can share their knowledge in furtherance of fiduciary professionalism. This year, the 12 Annual FISA Conference is again sponsored by Hollard Court Bonds and has as its theme: “A changed world”. Several important court cases over the past year have impacted on aspects such as Muslim succession in South Africa; the freedom of testation; trusts in divorce matters and the proposed changes to legislation to avoid South Africa’s grey-listing by the FATF? 

You can register for the conference here.

Court case summaries

FISA has an archive of fiduciary-related court case summaries on its website. Compiled by FISA CEO Louis van Vuren, this archive is regarded as the first port of call by many lawyers.

You can access the court case archive here.

Fiduciary Practitioner of SA^®

FISA is raising the bar for professionalism in fiduciary practice through the designation of Fiduciary Practitioner of SA^® (FPSA®). As the FPSA^® designation is proprietary to FISA, it is only awarded to FISA members. 

FISA members must have:

• at least three years of practical experience in the fiduciary field; and
• comply with ethical requirements; and 
• first enter and successfully complete the Advanced Diploma in Estate and Trust Administration offered by The School of Financial Planning Law (SFPL) at the University of Free State;
  

following which they may apply to FISA for the FPSA^® designation to be awarded to them.

Read more about FISA and our activities at www.fisa.net.za