home
XConsult is a niche service provider that was established to fill a particular need in the financial services industry in South Africa.
WHY?
South Africa’s Exchange Control Regulations often create problems for both individuals and businesses as these regulations are either not taken cognisance, not fully understood or incorrect interpretations are made. Further complicating the situation is that the regulator, the Exchange Control Department of the South African Reserve Bank (“SARB”), will seldom enter into correspondence directly with any party that is not an “Authorised Dealer”. Representations to the SARB by a client always have to be routed via an “AD”.
An Authorised Dealer (“AD”) is a bank in South Africa that has been authorised to deal in foreign currency and related services. Many authorisation functions have been delegated by the SARB to “AD’s” but these are always subject to narrowly defined and stipulated conditions.
The financial services industry worldwide is subject to continually increasing regulation and corporate governance and given recent world events, it is unlikely that this trend will change in the foreseeable future. In this climate even genuine technical errors made in good faith, i.e. where there have been no losses in foreign exchange to South Africa’s reserves, can and do result in very serious financial penalties.
While the “AD’s” have highly qualified and dedicated exchange control staff they often have to consider their own interests before those of their clients in view of this strict regulation. In addition, there may be differences of opinion and interpretation between “AD’s”. Clients may experience that there are insufficient numbers of adequately qualified staff in a particular area as the more qualified staff are usually based in the Johannesburg Head Offices of the “AD’s”. Clients may also find it troublesome in dealing with different staff in different divisions. They may even be incorrectly advised.
In many instances a client may only be provided with incomplete or partial advice. This usually occurs when everyone is trying to finalise one particular transaction only without realising that there may be closely related issues that, if ignored, can cause large problems later.
WHY DO YOU NEED XCONSULT?
XConsult strives to fill these knowledge and service delivery gaps by providing an independent, dedicated, user-friendly comprehensive exchange control service to clients by:
- Focusing exclusively on exchange control matters
- Ensuring that the correct exchange control issues and problem areas are identified and complied with
- Providing a service that takes not only the legal issues into account but focuses on practical solutions
- Ensuring that not only are the policies explained but the difficulties around these clearly explained to clients
- Providing practical solutions to problems
- Being able to identify genuine problems vs. debatable advice and/ or bad service
- Working closely with the correct personnel in an “AD” to ensure they are all provided with everything they need in the shortest possible time
- Following the correct procedures to improve efficiency when dealing with an “AD” Bank
- Making high quality representations to AD’s and the SARB on behalf of our clients
- In need, even questioning decisions made by the regulators and/ or “AD’s” where these appear inconsistent, impractical or unfair
- Providing this service to all types of clients including individuals, their trusts, CC’s, unlisted companies and listed companies.