The Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI) has released the names of the three finalists in the 2016 FPI Financial Planner of the Year competition.
The Financial Planner of the Year Award, presented by the FPI in association with Personal Finance, honours outstanding financial planners from across South Africa who are members of the FPI and who hold the internationally recognised Certified Financial Planner accreditation. The award is considered the highest accolade in the profession and the prestige attached to winning means that it is hotly contested.
The three advisers who made it to this year’s finals are: Bruce Fleming, an advisory partner at Citadel Wealth Management in Cape Town; Francois le Roux a financial planner at Old Mutual Private Wealth Management in Johannesburg; and Yolande Botha, head of wealth management at Galileo Capital Wealth Management in Johannesburg.
* Fleming has been involved in the financial planning industry for about 20 years. He began his career as a legal adviser at Old Mutual, assisting some of the top financial planning businesses in the country. Before that he was practice development manager at Acsis. He has been consulting to private clients for the past 16 years, first at Consolidated Financial Planning and now as an advisory partner at Citadel Wealth Management. He was a finalist in the Financial Planner of the Year Award in 2014 and 2015.
* Le Roux was admitted as an attorney in 1991, and was a partner in a Pretoria law firm until 2000. He joined Private Wealth Management as a financial planner in February 2001, gaining 15 years’ experience in lifestyle financial planning in the high-net-worth market. He is a proud mentor to aspiring financial planners in the FPI Mentorship Programme.
* Botha started out in life as a pharmacist, but changed careers in 2002 and became a marketing consultant for Sanlam Life. In 2006, she joined Galileo Capital and found a home for her passion and outlook on life. She has been a CFP professional since 2008.
In the final round, the three entrants will be required to present to a panel of judges on a selected topic and will be required to answer questions related to industry trends, topics, technical information and legislative changes.
The winner will be announced at the 2016 FPI awards ceremony gala dinner at the Sandton Convention Centre on Tuesday, June 14.