Corporate report brenthurst wealth
have in-house legal professionals to not only draft the will, but also identify concerns across multiple jurisdictions.
“It’s not just a side part of what we offer clients. We look at the whole picture and work with advisers and risk specialists to give clients proper outcomes that preserve their legacy.”
The significance of these services has been heightened in 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping across the globe.
Malissa Anthony, head of Brenthurst’s fiduciary services department in the Western Cape, says this event has heightened estate planning concerns.
“People are taking their wills much more seriously, and while we have always placed importance on this aspect of estate planning, we have taken this opportunity to emphasise its importance even more so as a result of everything that’s gone on,” Anthony says.
“There has been a phenomenal response and greater sense of urgency from clients to get their matters in order.”
Some Brenthurst clients would sadly have been grateful for this personal attention to detail if loved ones had been victims of the coronavirus pandemic.
This would have been a painfully frustrating time for families as even the courts were shut down during the lockdown. This delay in processing estates and related matters has led to considerable backlogs that are creating additional bottlenecks.
Heystek-potgieter says it is at times like these that clients benefit from the close personal nature of these relationships. The Brenthurst team is on hand not only to guide them through the process, but to ensure they stay informed throughout.
Allied to estate planning are the various forms of risk planning that Brenthurst has added to its armoury.
Leslie Greyling, Brenthurst’s risk expert in Gauteng, says the firm’s offering covers both personal and business risk assurance services.
Brenthurst started offering spe
What it means: Wide range of services shows level of commitment to clients
cialised risk services in 2018 to close the loop in the financial planning process.
“For personal clients, we offer everything from life, disability and severe illness cover to income protection. For individuals, I would say the number one reason for life cover is to provide families with the liquidity to cover costs such as estate duty and executor fees,” Greyling says.
“Our business assurance offers non-short-term cover you would expect to take to protect a business against losses. This might include key person cover, partnership assurance and contingent liability protection to prevent a death or disability threatening the viability of a business.”
Another value-added service offered countrywide is forex buying and selling. Managed by CFP professional and 2019 winner of the Brenthurst Annual Excellence Award Suzean Haumann, this service handles forex purchases clients use to fund their offshore accounts.
One of the major benefits to clients is that they have a single point of contact when dealing with what can be complex processes and applications to transfer money across borders.
“We can now also open an Investec Call Money Account on behalf of clients that they can use as a trading account. Once it is opened, clients can then transfer their rands to this account to be able to buy and transfer the foreign currency. If a client needs to apply for tax clearance, we can also assist with that,” she says.
The expanded scope of services available to Brenthurst clients is testament to the firm’s commitment to providing clients with a personalised, professional wealth management offering.
The close understanding of clients’ particular circumstances allows relationship managers, planners and advisers to offer bespoke solutions that simplify complex processes.