Nathalie Burrows, Editor at EBnet
The atmosphere at the Sandton Convention Centre was filled with energy as more than 500 financial planning professionals gathered for Day 1 of the 2025 FPI Convention (with another 700 online).
After Olwethu Masanabo, Chairperson of the FPI, welcomed everyone, the stage was taken by Verity Price. The 2021 World Champion of Public Speaking shared her personal experience of “Stage Fright to Limelight”. As an expert in financial services, Verity pointed out that financial planners may have all the information and the best expert advice, but all of this was useless if key messages were not effectively communicated. It was a reminder that confidence can (and should) be practiced, connection must be made with authentic stories and experiences, and communication must be deliberate. In answering the question: What impacts an audience?, Verity shared that 50% was YOU, and your “life force” which I interpreted as your energy. If you’re not passionate about what you’re talking about, or advising on, how can you expect your clients or colleagues to be? (For interest, making up the balance is 20% the mechanics of your presentation, like your slides, and 30% is your message.) Of her many practical tips and tricks, one of my favourites was to ask yourself: Am I getting my point across in a way that is memorable and life changing. Because let’s be real, what financial planners do can, and should be, life changing for their clients.
“True influence comes when your audience feels invited into a shared experience, not just a one-way presentation.”
This quote reflects Verity’s core message on how financial professionals can elevate their communication to become impactful influencers, especially in roles requiring trusted client relationships and leadership presence.
Another session I particularly enjoyed was Anton Swanepoel’s unpacking of how COFI should be viewed in financial services, and particularly by financial advisors. By pointing to FAIS as a great intro into getting ready for COFI, he posed the question: Is COFI simply a business manual for leading FSP’s? By drawing parallels between some of the best selling international business books and the requirements of COFI, Anton suggested that one is better off saving the money on buying books, and rather reading COFI – where principles like fairness, integrity, trust, governance and ethics are all dealt with. (That did come with a health warning of: Business books talk nicely, COFI talks urgently.) Anton urged attendees to view COFI from a growth mindset – embrace it as an opportunity to build trust with clients and go deeper into refining business processes.
When exploring “What does your future client look like?” a panel made up Nici Macdonald from the FPI, Florbela Yates from Equilibrium and Dante De Gori, FPSB CEO, and facilitated by Lelane Bezuidenhout, FPI CEO, discussed the needs of Gen Z’s for transparency and accountability in their investments. And how a mindset shift is needed when consulting to younger, digital native, clients – who want accessibility and choice. When it came to fees, Dante shared his experience of the global context by confirming that the transition from commission to fee for service is slowly happening, being driven by both planners and regulators. And one of the most profound statements of the day for me was from the FPSB CEO who said: “There isn’t a clear market model that doesn’t have conflict.” As long as you’re providing value, it doesn’t matter what fee structure you use.
This panel also talked about the increase in clients whose beneficiaries are not living in SA. And cautioned financial advisors to partner with an expert in the relevant domicile when looking at estate or wealth planning for these clients.
All the sessions were littered with comments, predictions, warnings and experiences on AI. And that set the scene for Francois Du Toit’s session on Fintech & AI in Financial Planning. His overriding sentiment can be summarised by the statement that we are seeing an evolution in financial planning practices: where the client wants service and options/products that are highlight personalised and digitised, with a human being guiding the conversation about their money.
From the tech to the technical to the human, one thing is clear, the conversation with clients has moved on from “What product do you want?” to “What kind of life do you want?”
Looking forward to what the FPI has in store for Day 2.
ENDS
