Package 03 · FSP Back Office · for South African FSPs

Records of advice, FICA packs and review packs, done by agents.

We build agents that prepare the FICA pack, draft the record of advice from the meeting, assemble the review pack and reconcile commission, inside your own systems, with an adviser approving every output.

Start with 10 free hours

From R285,000, fixed
Live in your firm by the end of Phase 2
Last 30% only when your test passes
Everything in your name

What you get, phase by phase

For advice and wealth practices of 5 to 50 people.

What it feels like now

Onboarding and FICA, records of advice, annual review packs, commission reconciliation and re-keying the same client into three platforms eat one to two people's week.

Where others stop

Your compliance officer checks the work after it is done; advice software sits in silos; AI note-takers are built for US rules and sold per seat. The work itself still lands on your team.

What we do

Three to five back-office workflows, mapped and automated
FAIS record-keeping and POPIA data design, with an audit log
Templates in your house style, tuned on your real files
Human approval on everything that reaches a client or a platform

Phase 1 · Develop
Shadow the team, map the workflows, design the data flow, build the first agents and test them on 30 to 50 of your past files.
Phase 2 · Implement
Run the agents beside your staff on live work, fix every miss, then reduce the checking on the low-risk steps.
Phase 3 · Hand over
Train two operators, hand over every account and document, and sign off against the acceptance test.

Your acceptance test

Agreed hours saved per week on the chosen workflows, measured against the baseline taken in Phase 0.

From R285,000

For firms up to 15 people; R420,000 for 16 to 50. Excl. VAT. 40% on signature, 30% at go-live, 30% when your test passes.

Optional afterwards: R22,500 a month for monitoring, model and API costs, template changes and a monthly review.

Start with 10 free hours

Back-office maths

What records of advice cost your firm today

Records of advice are only one of the workflows this package takes on, and usually the biggest. Put in your own numbers.

Hours a month on records of advice today: 150 hours
What that costs a year: R810,000
Saved a year: R405,000

FSP Back Office (from R285,000) pays back in about 8 months. With the optional R22,500 a month run service, in about 25 months.

An estimate from the numbers you enter. The real number is set by the acceptance test agreed before Phase 1. Nothing you type here is stored or sent.

Sample, fictional client

Before and after: a record of advice

An adviser’s notes as typed after a review meeting, and the record of advice the agent drafts from them. Every section points back to the lines it came from, and nothing goes to the client until the adviser approves it.

Before: adviser’s notes17 lines

Review mtg 6 Oct 2026, Claremont. Adviser: T. Adviser (fictional), FSP 00000 (fictional)
Client M (fictional), 52, civil engineer, married, 2 kids at varsity
Wants to stop work at 60. Worried the money won't last
Risk profile redone today: moderate, same as last year
RA with Provider X (fictional), about R2.1m, putting in R6k pm
Old employer pension preserved, about R850k. Two-pot savings pot ~R30k, don't touch
At 60: both into a living annuity, wants ~R28k pm after tax
That is a drawdown of ~6.5%, too high. Talked about 4 to 5%
Suggested RA up to R9k pm with Provider X. Still inside the 27.5% deduction
TFSA: R15k in this tax year, put the rest of the year's limit in from the bonus
Risk: life cover R1.5m from 2014, bond almost paid off, no severe illness cover. Need now ~R1m
Suggest life down to R1m, add severe illness R500k. Replacement: compared premiums, cover, waiting periods and exclusions with him
Alt: keep life at R1.5m (+R420 pm). Part guaranteed annuity at 60? Not keen
Fees: advice 0.5% pa, platform 0.35%, funds ~0.9% TER. Went through all three
Risks: markets, inflation, drawdown running out, Reg 28 limits inside the RA
Client OK with RA increase and TFSA. Risk cover: wants to talk to his wife first
Next: severe illness quotes, follow-up call in 2 weeks

After: the agent’s draftFAIS record of advice

Record of advice

Client M (fictional) · annual review

Client and adviser

Client M (fictional), 52, married with two children at university. Annual review on 6 October 2026 with T. Adviser (fictional), FSP 00000 (fictional).

Needs and risk profile

Retire at 60 on about R28,000 a month after tax, with income that lasts. Risk profile reassessed as moderate, unchanged. Current savings imply a 6.5% drawdown at 60, above a sustainable 4% to 5%. The life cover need has fallen to about R1 million now the bond is nearly paid, and there is no severe illness cover.

Product recommended and why

Raise the Provider X retirement annuity contribution from R6,000 to R9,000 a month, within the 27.5% deduction limit, to lower tax now and build capital for a 4% to 5% drawdown at 60. Use the bonus for the rest of this year's tax-free savings allowance. Leave the two-pot savings component untouched.

Replacement of risk cover

Recommended: reduce life cover from R1.5 million to R1 million and add R500,000 of severe illness cover. Because this replaces existing cover, the premiums, benefits, waiting periods and exclusions of the old and new cover were compared and explained to the client.

Alternatives considered

Keeping life cover at R1.5 million (about R420 a month more). A part guaranteed annuity at retirement, which the client declined for now.

Fees disclosed

Advice fee 0.5% a year, platform fee 0.35% a year, underlying fund costs of about 0.9%. Each explained to the client.

Risks explained

Market and inflation risk. A living annuity drawn at more than 5% may not last. Regulation 28 limits how the retirement annuity can be invested.

Client's decision

Accepted the RA increase and the tax-free savings top-up. The cover change is on hold until he has spoken to his wife, and no existing cover is cancelled before new cover is in force. Severe illness quotes and a follow-up call within two weeks.

The adviser checks it against the notes, edits anything that needs it and approves. Every edit is logged.

Adviser approved ✓before it reached the client

The other four packages

We run one package at a time, so the first is handed over and working before the next begins.

Compare all five on one page

How it works

Phase 0: information gathering. Here is what happens.

The first 10 hours are on us: no invoice and no obligation. At the end you keep the written findings whether or not you go ahead.

Step 1
First call
Thirty minutes online. You tell us what isn't working; we ask how the work gets done today.
Step 2
We read your log
You note what isn't working on our private form. An automatic email with your next steps arrives within a minute; the people assigned to your firm read the log itself within one working day.
Step 3
An engineer at your office
Your engineer sits with the people doing the work and logs every problem as it really happens.
Step 4
Assessment
What each problem costs you, what has to be in place first, and which package fits.
Step 5
Findings and a fixed price
Written findings you keep either way, and one package at one fixed price if it is worth building.

Your log stays private

You write down what isn’t working on our confidential form. It is encrypted, read only by the people assigned to your firm, and never sent to an AI model or anyone else.

Next steps in a minute

As soon as you send the log, you get an email that says what we heard, which package fits, what we need from you, and how the three phases would run.

One engineer, on site

If you go ahead, a forward-deployed engineer works inside your firm two days a week through all three phases: one person who knows your files, your people and your systems.

Why fixed packages

We cost more than an hourly project. Here’s what that buys.

Most AI work billed by the hour never leaves the pilot. We price the outcome instead, and we carry the risk of getting there.

	Typical hourly project	A MAKGLOBAL package
Price	An estimate, then change requests	Fixed before we start
Who builds it	Whoever is free that week	One named engineer, on your site
When you pay the last part	On delivery, whether it works or not	When the acceptance test agreed before Phase 1 passes
Who owns it	Often the vendor’s accounts and licences	Your company, from the start of Phase 1
After handover	A support contract you need	Your team runs it; ongoing care is optional
Rules	Generic	Built around FAIS, POPIA and the cyber resilience Joint Standard

Talk to a person

Want to know more before you start?

Ask us anything about a package, the price or how the three phases would run in your firm. You will speak to a person.

Leave your number on the free hours form and choose “call me back”. A person phones you within one working day.

Or email hello@makglobal.africa.

Claim your 10 free hours

Questions

Questions people ask

How long does a package take?

Every package runs in three phases: develop, implement and hand over. We agree the dates for each phase with you in the first week, put them in the scope sheet you sign, and hold ourselves to them.

Why are you more expensive than other providers?

Because you are buying a working result with a test attached, not hours. The price includes redesigning the work with your people, building it on your accounts, an engineer on site through all three phases, training, documentation and handover. If it does not pass the acceptance test, you do not pay the last 30%.

What if it doesn’t pass the acceptance test?

We keep working on it at our own cost until it does. If it still doesn’t, the final 30% is never invoiced. The test is written with you before Phase 1 starts, so we both know what “working” means before any build starts.

Can we take two packages at once?

We run one at a time. The first is handed over and working before the second begins, and the second goes faster because we already know your firm. It keeps the price fixed and the focus on one result.

Is the confidential log really confidential?

Yes. It is encrypted before it is stored, only the people assigned to your firm can read it, it is never pasted into an AI tool, and the internal notice we send says only that a log arrived, not what is in it. We sign a mutual NDA before your visit.

Do you work outside financial services?

Not at the moment. Our references, templates and test sets are built for advice practices, wealth and asset managers, insurers, lenders and fiduciary firms, and the 10 free hours are for firms of five or more people.

What does the optional monthly fee cover?

Monitoring, model and API changes, fixes when a system you use changes, and a monthly review. It is month to month and cancellable on 30 days’ notice (Investment Models: 12-month minimum). Handover is designed so you can run everything without it.