Handing over client documents within seven days
How fast a South African planner must hand over a client's documents and files after a written request under FPI rule 7.20, and how to send them.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Financial services businesses in South Africa
The e-mail is polite and short: "Please send me all my documents. I am moving to another adviser." For a planning practice it is an uncomfortable moment, and the temptation is to let it sit while someone tries to win the client back. Under the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI) Code, that delay has a limit.
This article explains what FPI rule 7.20 asks of a member when a client requests their documents in writing, what the practice may keep back, what an electronic copy has to look like to count, and a clean way to send everything with a record of what went.
Rule 7.20: seven days from the written request
FPI rule 7.20 requires members, on a client's written request, to give the client, or the client's authorised person, any original documents and electronic files related to the professional services within seven days of the request.
Three details are worth noting:
- The request is written. An e-mail or letter starts the clock. A remark in a phone call may not, but it is good practice to ask the client to confirm in writing so the date is clear.
- The recipient can be someone else. A client who is moving to another planner will often ask you to send the file to the new adviser. That person is the client's authorised person; keep the client's written instruction naming them.
- Originals and electronic files. If you hold signed originals, such as a will kept for safekeeping or identity documents the client lodged with you, they go back. Electronic files related to the services go too.
What the practice may keep back
The rule has a limit. Unless the practice is compelled by law, it does not extend to internal notes, memoranda, quotes and other working documents.
That gives a practical sorting rule when you assemble the file:
| Goes to the client | Stays with the practice |
|---|---|
| Signed application forms and mandates | Internal file notes and reminders |
| Records of advice and disclosure letters given to the client | Internal memoranda between advisers |
| Statements and valuations received on the client's behalf | Quotes and comparisons prepared as working documents |
| Correspondence with the client | Other working papers |
When a document could fall either way, ask whether it was prepared for the client or for the practice's own thinking. If in doubt, take advice before holding anything back, and note why it was retained.
The FPI Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility sets out rule 7.20 and the related duties of members in full.
Electronic records still count
Many practices no longer keep paper. South Africa's Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, as published, deals with this in section 16(1): where a law requires information to be retained, keeping it as a data message meets that requirement if the information is accessible for later reference, is kept in its original format or one shown to represent it accurately, and its origin, destination and date and time of sending or receipt can be determined.
Section 16(1)(b) puts weight on format: the record must be in the format in which it was generated, sent or received, or in a format that can be demonstrated to represent that information accurately. For a document request, that means sending the PDF as it was signed, not a retyped summary of it.
What the practice must keep for itself
Handing documents to a departing client does not end the practice's own record-keeping. Section 24(1) of the Companies Act, 2008, as published, requires a company to keep the records it must keep under that Act or any other public regulation in written form, or in a form convertible into written form within a reasonable time, for seven years or any longer period another applicable public regulation sets.
So when originals go back to the client, keep a copy, and keep the record of what was sent. A practice that hands over its only copy of a record of advice has nothing to show if a complaint arrives later.
Sending the file and keeping the proof
Achekam's Document Centre is a folder-based store where a business uploads files or whole folders, previews, downloads, tags, archives and searches them, and where a new version of a file keeps the earlier ones. A planning practice that keeps one folder per client already has most of the work done when a request arrives.
To send the documents, share them by e-mailing a personal link rather than attaching a dozen PDFs to one message. Each link can carry:
- an expiry date, so the file does not stay open indefinitely;
- an optional one-time code, useful when the link goes to a new adviser rather than the client;
- a choice of whether download is allowed;
- the option to revoke the share if it went to the wrong address.
Every stored file gets a SHA-256 fingerprint, and every upload passes a malware check. If the client or the new adviser later says a document was different from what they received, the fingerprint lets you show whether the stored copy has changed since it was filed; showing a filed document has not changed explains how. The same link-based approach is described for insurance claims in sending claim documents to an insurer by secure link.
Log the request and the date you met it
A short request log protects the practice if timing is ever questioned. For each written request, record:
- The date the request arrived and who sent it.
- Who the documents are to go to, and the written authority if it is not the client.
- What was sent, and what was held back with the reason.
- The date the link was sent and its expiry.
- Whether originals were returned, and how.
Keep the log entry and a copy of the covering e-mail in the client's folder.
The next request
Look at the folder of your most recent client and ask whether you could send the whole file within a day. If documents are scattered across inboxes and personal drives, gather them now, sorted into what would go to the client and what would stay. When the next request arrives, the seven days will be ample.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
