The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has issued warnings against two clone firms posing as regulated businesses.
The South African regulator confirmed that Stanlib Focused Investments and PSG Fund Investments are not authorised to provide financial advice and intermediary services.
The two companies cloned names of existing regulated firms in the country, namely Stanlib and PSG Wealth Financial Planning.
More specifically, the PSG clone based its operations on social media, particularly via Whatsapp, to provide financial advice and intermediary services by using the PSG Wealth Financial Planning name without authorisation.
The FSCA said: “Stanlib Focused Investments [and] PSG Fund Investment are neither an authorised financial services provide nor a juristic representative of any financial services provider, therefore, they are not authorised to render financial services as contemplated under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act.”