adminLameez Omarjee
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority has provisionally withdrawn the licence of a Pietermaritzburg-based investment company, Exclusive Life Financial Services.
In a statement on Tuesday, the regulator said it received information that Exclusive Life has been “materially contravening” its licensing conditions and has been “promoting a product” that is was not authorised to market. The FSCA did not provide further details.
“Furthermore there are allegations that some investors who have invested money in the scheme have not received the promised returns including the principal invested amount.
“Based on the information at the disposal of the FSCA and in order to protect the interests of the investors from being further compromised, the license of Exclusive Life has been provisionally withdrawn,” the FSCA said.
According to company records, Exclusive Life Financial Services was registered in April 2019. Responding via email to a query from Fin24 on Wednesday afternoon, Exclusive LIfe said it had taken reasonable steps to inform its affected clients on the news that its licence had been provisionally withdrawn.
“They have all been engaged on the refund process and timelines,” the company said.
“The business has been given timelines to respond (to the FSCA) and we are definitely going to make our presentations to the authority,” it added.
The FSCA is SA’s market conduct regulator for financial institutions that provide financial products and services. These include banks, insurers, retirement funds and administrators.
The regulator aims to protect customers of financial institutions and maintain financial stability.
Bongani Ndlovu