What has your career journey looked like?

I studied a B.Comm at Stellenbosch University, then worked for Santam Insurance (then Santam Bank) for three years. I joined Old Mutual in April 1980 and have been with them ever since, in various capacities. I spent more or less half of my career as a full-time employee in the Investments Division, now called OMIGSA (Old Mutual Investment Group South Africa) and the other half in Old Mutual Employee Benefits, now called Corporate. One of my last roles at Old Mutual involved heading up SuperFund administration. I then started Empfin Solutions, an Old Mutual franchise, on 1 October 2010 – 15 years ago.

Tell us more about your current role.

Empfin Solutions falls under Old Mutual AFD (Agency Franchise Division). It’s my and my business partner, Andre Claassens’, own business, but we mainly sell Old Mutual products and service Old Mutual clients. We have advisers in Cape Town and Gauteng, and we’ve got three main lines of business. One is corporate business (retirement funds) – which is where we started – the second is personal financial advice, and the third is short-term insurance.

When I speak to retirement fund clients, I explain that they’re basically buying my service as an adviser, plus the Old Mutual system. My clients have the option of placing investments and risk benefits outside of Old Mutual, but most of them don’t – the offering is very competitive, and Old Mutual has excellent products in that area (for example, on the Smoothed Bonus side).

What are the main benefits of being linked to Old Mutual?

The backing you get from the Old Mutual name and brand is extremely important – and you can see that when you visit a new customer. I also don’t handle money or much of the admin; everything is administered on Old Mutual’s systems, and every participating employer provides information on a monthly basis to Old Mutual.

Marketing and compliance support is another major benefit. Compliance is a huge thing for any organisation – especially in the financial world – and Old Mutual makes sure that everything is according to the book.

Then, of course, there’s the value of SuperFund. It’s the biggest fund in the market – with more than 480 000 members and about 5 700 participating employers – but over and above the size, I also like the way the fund is governed. The total package for me is very attractive, and I'm very happy to sell only Old Mutual SuperFund in the market.

How do you use your corporate book to build your retail business?

Our business structure works because we've got the corporate clients, and we can also service the members of those funds – because every member has their own personal financial needs, over and above the fund. I am only accredited to look at the member from the fund’s point of view, but my personal financial colleagues – who make up the other part of our business – can link up with that member and service them individually.

Our advisers work together and trust each other. Whenever possible, I try to take one of my colleagues with me to member communication sessions, so that the members start to know their faces. When a member retires or resigns, they’ll often ask for my colleague’s help as an individual. It's a relationship thing, and this is very important. When you get a new corporate client, you probably won't find them talking to you about their personal financial needs. But as they begin to trust you and understand your business, you’ll start getting business on the individual side. Quite a significant portion of business comes to us this way.

Every employer must also submit monthly data to Old Mutual electronically. I can check who is on the fund and whether they’re close to retirement. I can then go to the employer and say, “I see that some people are going into retirement within the next year or two, or three. Can I arrange for one of my colleagues to contact them?” Of course, in line with POPIA, I would only share their details with a colleague if the individual has given full consent.

What are some of the most significant challenges you have faced in your career?

Finding the right calibre of advisers is always a challenge, as is matching the right adviser with a particular customer. You have different groups of employers and members – from bigger to smaller, from more to less complicated – and you need to ensure that your advisers are able to service each group, and operate at different levels. Digitisation, for example, may be great for a large portion of the market (and there have been huge strides in making everything electronic), but some customers find it more difficult and want things on paper. Whatever their needs are, it’s our job to help them.

What aspects of your career do you find most rewarding?

Dealing with the Empfin team is very rewarding, as is dealing with your customers – especially when you go out of your way for a member or employer and they value what you've done for them. It’s also great to see how, once you've run several member communication sessions with a particular group, they begin to understand the funds, and they ask questions. For me, those are the good times. It’s not always so nice to sort out administration hassles, but they do happen from time to time, and you just have to deal with them.

What advice do you have for other intermediaries?

1. One must always maintain an employer and member focus – a customer focus. It doesn’t matter if you work on the corporate side or personal financial advice; you have a customer who is paying money, and you must never lose sight of that.

2. Remember: it’s your job to remove the “hassle factor” from customers' lives, and to assist wherever you can. I give members my cellphone number so that they can WhatsApp me with questions or issues they have. The member is increasingly important, so you’ve got to focus on member communication and education.

3. If you haven’t, consider Old Mutual SuperFund. When I look at the markets and the total package – the way it's costed, the benefits it offers, the support you receive – it is really competitive.

4. Utilise advice opportunities presented as a result of the new Two-Pot System from September 2024, to advise members on various options at retirement, resignation, and claims from savings pots. It’s more complicated for members now than before – but you can make all the difference.