Terms of Service

1. Who We Are

The FinCompare Portal ("the Portal") is operated by Masthead Financial Planning (Pty) Ltd, an authorised Financial Services Provider licensed by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority under FSP number 43435.

By accessing or using the Portal you agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, please do not use the Portal.

2. What the Portal Does

The Portal is a secure workspace that allows you to:

• Provide and update the information required for a Financial Needs Analysis
• Upload and store documents required under FICA and FAIS
• View illustrations, comparisons and projections prepared for your review
• Track outstanding requirements and communicate with your adviser

The Portal is a tool that supports the advice process. It is not itself a source of financial advice.

3. Advice, Illustrations and Projections

Any calculation, projection, comparison or illustration generated by the Portal is informational only. Projections rely on assumptions about future returns, inflation and premium patterns which may not be realised. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

All financial advice is given by a licensed representative of Masthead Financial Planning after reviewing your circumstances, and is recorded in a written Record of Advice. No advice is given by the Portal itself and no automated decision is made about you.

You should not act on any figure shown in the Portal without discussing it with your adviser.

4. Your Account

• Access is granted to you personally and may not be shared with anyone else
• You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential
• You must notify us immediately if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission
• We may suspend or withdraw access where we reasonably suspect misuse, or where our business relationship ends

5. Accuracy of Information

The advice you receive depends entirely on the accuracy and completeness of the information you provide. You undertake to provide information that is true, accurate and complete, and to update it when your circumstances change.

Where you decline to provide information, or limit the scope of the analysis, this will be recorded and may materially affect the suitability of any advice given. This is a requirement of the General Code of Conduct under FAIS.

6. Records and Retention

Information and documents submitted through the Portal form part of your client record. We are required to retain these records for a minimum of 5 years under FICA and FAIS, calculated from the date of the last transaction or the end of the business relationship, whichever is later.

How we handle your personal information is set out in our Privacy Notice, which forms part of these Terms.

7. Availability

We aim to keep the Portal available at all times but do not guarantee uninterrupted access. The Portal depends on third-party hosting and storage providers, and may be unavailable during maintenance or for reasons beyond our control.

Where the Portal is unavailable, your adviser remains contactable by telephone or email and your service is not affected.

8. Acceptable Use

You may not use the Portal to upload unlawful content, attempt to gain access to records that are not your own, interfere with its operation, or attempt to circumvent any security control. We reserve the right to withdraw access and report unlawful activity to the relevant authorities.

9. Intellectual Property

The Portal, its design, content and underlying software belong to Masthead Financial Planning (Pty) Ltd or its licensors. Documents prepared for you personally — your Record of Advice, Financial Needs Analysis and related compliance documents — remain yours to keep and use.

10. Limitation of Liability

Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for fraud, or for any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded — including our obligations as an authorised FSP under FAIS and our accountability for advice given by our representatives.

Subject to that, we are not liable for loss arising from your reliance on an illustration or projection without adviser input, from information you provided that was inaccurate or incomplete, or from unavailability of the Portal.

11. Complaints

If you are unhappy with any aspect of our service, please contact us first using the details below so that we can try to resolve it. We will acknowledge your complaint in writing and keep you informed of progress.

If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you may refer it to the Office of the FAIS Ombud, which resolves complaints against financial services providers. Full contact details for the Ombud are set out in our Conflict of Interest and Complaints Policy, available from your adviser on request.

12. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in our service or in regulation. The current version is always published on this page and the date below shows when it was last revised. Material changes will be communicated to you directly.

13. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, and are subject to the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 37 of 2002, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001, and the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.

14. Contact

For questions about these Terms, or to raise a complaint, please contact: