Did you hear? June inflation jumped to 5%, up sharply from May's 4,5% and the highest in two years, driven mainly by fuel, with transport costs up 12,7% over the year. The surprise on the upside has economists talking about a hike, and the SARB delivers its verdict this afternoon.
This week in Seed Analytics Advisor Connect:
Upcoming events: Chances to network & connect with others.
Audit-ready in an afternoon: 3 moves to stay inspection-ready.
Make the FSCA call a non-event: A routine, not a scramble.
New opportunities & advisory jobs for you to explore in SA.
Nedbank's R13,9bn Africa deal & why the rand could see R18.
Prompt of the week: Build your monthly records-check routine.
Take Note
Founders Running Club – Cape Town, 30 Jul: A relaxed last-Thursday-of-the-month run and networking meetup for founders, investors and startup folk. Details here.
FPI 2026 Estate & Trust Masterclass – Online, 19 Aug: A half-day FPI masterclass on the estate-planning issues advisors meet every day: beneficiary nominations, Section 37C, outdated documentation and where estate plans commonly fall down. CPD-accredited and online. Details here.
Audit-ready in an afternoon: 3 moves to keep your records inspection-ready
How to run your practice so that an FSCA inspection is an afternoon of filling in a template, not a fortnight of digging…
The FSCA is ramping up inspections: Its 2024/25 annual report logged a 67% year-on-year jump in on-site inspections, and with South Africa now preparing for the FATF's next mutual evaluation in 2026/27, that scrutiny isn't about to ease.
No need to dread that knock on the door though, because here’s a routine that keeps you inspection-ready by default.
1. Keep one reconciled source of truth
Audit panic comes from scattered records: client data on one system, portfolios on another, records of advice in an inbox, FICA docs in a drawer and so on. Better to consolidate the book into a single reconciled view instead, so whatever the ask, it already exists in one place you trust.
Take action: Pick one system as your source of truth and reconcile all client and portfolio records into it every month.
2. Run a short monthly tidy session
Inspection-readiness decays with time: a mandate lapses, a FICA document goes stale, a record of advice never gets filed. Left for a year, that becomes a fortnight of remediation; updated monthly, it only takes a few minutes.
Take action: Diarise a 30-minute monthly record check against a fixed five-line list: mandates current, FICA/KYC on file, records of advice complete, disclosures current and beneficiaries up to date.
3. Pre-build an inspection pack you can produce on demand
Much of the panic comes from simply not having a shape to fill. You already know roughly what will be asked, so decide the format before you ever need it. Then responding to a request becomes populating a template, not inventing one while time runs out.
Take action: Build an inspection-pack template (client list, records of advice, disclosures, FICA documents) that you can populate in an afternoon.
None of this needs to feel like extra compliance work. You already keep these records, now just somewhere with easy access.
Join the conversation…
If the FSCA called tomorrow, how ready are you?
Your single source of truth, already reconciled
The hardest part of staying inspection-ready is the reconciliation itself: pulling every client's investment data off every platform into one view that actually reconciles. Done manually across platforms, spreadsheets and statements, it's the job that never quite gets finished, which is exactly why an inspection turns into a scramble.
Seed's Enterprise Data and Book Reports do much of that reconciliation for you. They pull each client's investment data automatically from more than 70 LISPs and ManCos into one consolidated, reconciled view. When the request comes, you're populating a pack from one reconciled source instead of stitching ten together.
Already on Seed?
Use your Book Reports view as the source of truth for your monthly records check, so inspection-readiness is maintained from one reconciled place.
New to Seed?
Featured Section
New wealth and fin advisory career opportunities in SA
Graduate Advisor (Pretoria) @ PPS
Financial Advisor (Durban) @ Sanlam
Financial Advisor (Sandton) @ Discovery
Broker Consultant (Cape Town) @ Sanlam
Financial Adviser (Gqeberha & surrounds) @ Momentum
Financial Planning Consultant (Western Cape) @ Alexforbes
In Case You Missed It…
Industry Roundup
What Families Get Wrong About a Deceased Estate. Estates specialist Jan Jordaan set out the rules families most often miss: banks freeze accounts on death and won't release funds (even to a spouse) without the Master's authority; property and vehicles can only be sold once an executor is formally appointed.
FIC Warns of Sanctions as FSPs Miss a Compliance Deadline. Fewer than half of the accountable institutions required to file 2026 risk and compliance returns did so on time, and the Financial Intelligence Centre has warned the stragglers to expect administrative penalties.
Nedbank Secures a Kenyan Bank (and 60 Million Clients). Nedbank has locked in its targeted 66% stake in East African lender NCBA in a R13,9 billion deal, gaining a foothold in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda and access to NCBA's roughly 60 million clients.
Anchor Capital Flags an R18 Risk for the Rand. The rand could weaken to around R18 to the dollar over the next year if global and geopolitical risks flare. The currency has held up despite the renewed Middle East conflict, though, and could benefit from the dollar softening if South Africa's fundamentals improve.
London Stock Exchange Plans Near-Round-the-Clock Trading. The LSE will launch LSE 24, an after-hours venue running from 17:00 to 07:50 London time, to offer near-continuous trading and compete with 24/7 platforms. Client testing is expected by late 2026.
Prompt of the week
If you want AI to help you keep an inspection-readiness routine…
This prompt builds you two reusable tools: a monthly records-check list and a blank "inspection pack" template you populate on demand. You fill in your own records manually — the AI only ever builds the frame.
How to use it:
Paste the prompt into your AI tool of choice.
Answer its three setup questions in general terms (practice type, the systems your records live in, the record types you keep) — no client data.
Save the checklist and template it returns as your house versions.
Run the checklist monthly, and populate the pack when a request comes in.
Important: Do not upload any client data, records of advice, FICA documents or personal information into the tool. This prompt builds a blank checklist and template only; you fill in your own records yourself, offline.
The Prompt:
You are helping a South African brokerage owner stay inspection-ready for the FSCA. Do not ask for or use any real client data, records or figures — build reusable, blank tools only, using [BRACKETED PLACEHOLDERS] for anything practice-specific.
First, ask me three short questions, one at a time: (1) my practice type and roughly how many clients and advisors I have; (2) the platforms and systems where my records currently live; (3) the record types I keep (e.g. mandates, records of advice, FICA/KYC, disclosures, beneficiary nominations). Wait for my answers.
Then produce two things in South African English:
1. A one-page monthly records-check list: a short, fixed set of items to verify each month (mandates current, FICA/KYC on file, records of advice complete, disclosures current, beneficiaries up to date), each with a checkbox and a "where it lives" field, using placeholders.
2. A blank "inspection pack" template: the standard documents an FSCA inspection might request (client list, records of advice, disclosures, FICA documents), laid out as headed sections with [PLACEHOLDERS] I populate myself.
Keep everything generic and reusable. Do not cite specific FAIS or FICA section numbers unless I provide them; where a legal reference matters, flag that I should confirm it against the current Act or with my compliance officer rather than relying on your wording.
Did you know? On 23 July 1903, the Ford Motor Company sold its first Model A to a dentist. Henry Ford’s third attempt at building a car company was off to a decent start (albeit with only $300 in the bank). And, of course, five years later, it would change the world with the introduction of the Model T.
Till next time,
Seed Analytics Advisor Connect
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