Every other task in this series assumes you can correctly classify what counts as a financial product and a financial service in the first place. It's the smallest slice of the paper on its own — just 3 QCs — but the classification skill underpins scenario questions across the whole exam.
QC1 — Provide an overview of the financial services and different types of financial products a FSP can deal with
QC2 — Apply knowledge of the financial products within the financial services environment
QC3 — Explain the different financial products with examples of products in each category
QC1: Advice, Intermediary Service, or Neither
A "financial service" under FAIS is either advice or an intermediary service, rendered in relation to an included financial product. Products like retirement annuities, unit trusts, and long- or short-term insurance are included. Products like medical scheme membership and ordinary bank deposits are excluded, governed instead by their own separate legislation entirely.
QC2: A Clean Test Case Worth Knowing
QC3: Know Your Categories, Both Ways
Long-term insurance (life, disability), short-term insurance, collective investment schemes, retirement annuities and pension funds, and forex investment products are all included financial products. Medical scheme membership, bank deposits, mortgage bonds, and JSE-listed shares sit outside FAIS entirely, each governed by its own separate Act instead of the FAIS framework.
Quick Recap
- A financial service is either advice or an intermediary service, and it must relate to an included product to trigger FAIS at all
- Medical scheme membership and ordinary bank deposits are excluded from FAIS, governed by separate legislation
- Crypto assets became included financial products through a General Notice alone, with no change to the Act's own text
- Correctly classifying a product or interaction is foundational to almost every scenario question elsewhere in the exam
The Classification Skill Behind Every Scenario Question
RE Mastery Hub's Task Quizzes test included-versus-excluded product classification directly — the small skill that underpins much bigger scenario questions elsewhere.
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