Since 2021, Centric Wealth Advisory has been an FPI Approved Professional Practice™ but what does this mean and how can a client and the general public benefit from this?
The Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI) has awarded an elite group of nearly 20 financial planning practices with this certification due to its rigorous standards for excellence in financial planning.
What is the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa?
The Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI) is a recognised professional body for financial planners in South Africa. It is the only institution in South Africa to offer the CFP® certification and has been approved as a Recognised Controlling Body (RCB).
As a non-profit professional body, founding and affiliate member of the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB), the Institute exists to improve the level of professionalism and positively influence the quality of advice provided by its members. There are 25 other affiliate member countries that offer the CFP® certification.
As of January 2025, the number of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals reached 5,000 members in South Africa, which makes up approximately 2% of the 230,000 CFP Professionals worldwide.
Charles McAllister, who is the co-founder and Executive Director at Centric feels that “In a field where clients are placing immense trust in their service provider and where the stakes are incredibly high, we are glad that a professional body such as the FPI is there working towards excellent industry standards. In an industry where questionable work has the potential to cause devastating effects for their clients, quality of work assurances is of great importance.”
Charles has created a reputation for being outspoken and expressing his views on industry standards and best practices due to his passion for the profession.
Qualifying Criteria to become an fpi approved professional practice
Core Business Focus: A primary dedication to offering comprehensive financial planning services.
Adherence to the FPI’s Practice Standards: Ensuring a systematic, client-first approach in all financial planning engagements.
Fiduciary Responsibility: A clear commitment to acting in the best interests of their clients.
Documented Investment Philosophy: Transparency in investment strategies, accessible and clearly communicated to clients.
Quality Assurance: Implementing robust quality control measures to maintain service excellence.
Professional Members: Employing a team where at least 50% of financial advisors are CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals, with additional team members working toward FPI-recognised designations.
Ethical Standards: Adherence to the FPI Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, ensuring integrity and professionalism in every client interaction.
what sets centric apart?
True independence
Centric Wealth Advisory is a privately owned and managed wealth advisory business for prestige clients. In fact, Centric Wealth Advisory was established to counter the growing dominance of corporate-based financial advisory practices that do not meet the needs and expectations of clients, who demand and deserve independent advice.
Our client-centric approach and independence affords our clients flexibility and choice. This enables us to position ourselves at the hub of a network of providers that offer trustee, fiduciary and investment management services. Clients get the benefit of honest and unbiased advice, as well as clearly defined and individually tailored investment strategies.
ADHERENCE TO INDUSTRY STANDARDS
100% of the wealth managers at Centric are CFP professionals. In addition, several of the wealth managers are also members of The Fiduciary Institute of South Africa (FISA) as well as the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
This illustrates a further commitment to not only financial planning but also to the fiduciary responsibility to clients to acting with care and skill when advising on trusts, drafting of wills and estate planning.
Client centricity
In addition to independence and high standards of professionalism, Centric has a proven track record with its client centric approach which has been awarded through the annual Krutham (formerly called Intellidex) Top Private Banks and Wealth Awards. The ‘People’s Choice’ award is based on a survey where clients are able to rate the various wealth managers in South Africa.
Centric has won the ‘People’s Choice’ award in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
KEEPING UP WITH NEW AGE TECHNOLOGY
Centric incorporates the latest technology in its practice to enhance its customer experience. Through Microsoft Copilot, it has been able to incorporate A.I to enhance meetings through transcripts and summaries. It also streamlines client management with automated tasks, reports, analysis and insights.
Financial education
Through educational templates, articles and newsletters, Centric remains committed to educate and inform the public of ongoing topics in South Africa and globally.
a final word
As a business that was founded out of a burning desire to create better solutions for our clients and to better serve the needs of our clients, it is evident that we are a group of professionals who are firstly passionate about what we do and professionals who actively work towards change for the better.
Our energy and motivation in this regard is fuelled by a burning passion to help uplift the financial planning profession and we feel that our association with FPI is another way that we can play our part in this import process in our industry.
This stamp of approval is the culmination of years of processes that embody our incredible commitment and passion for exceptionally high standards, serving our clients’ unique needs and for uplifting the profession’s status across the Southern African region.
