Membership
Membership
Two kinds of membership: individual, for the people who do the work of this market, and organisation, for the firms they work in. Both record participation and a commitment to the code of conduct. Neither is verification.
In short
The Association serves two constituencies on different terms. Private lenders use it — the education, the market map, the registers and the warnings are free, and always will be. The industry joins it — practitioners, lending organisations and professional firms become members, accept the code of conduct, pay annual dues and elect the Council.
Four different things, often confused
- Listing
- establishes who an organisation is and what role it says it performs.
- Membership
- records participation in the Association and commitment to its Code of Conduct.
- Verification
- records that a practitioner or organisation has undergone a defined assessment for a stated role and scope.
- Partnership
- records support for the Association's work.
None of these statuses should be mistaken for another. Holding one never produces another, and only statuses actually held are shown.
If you lend your own capital
You do not need to join anything. Everything the Association publishes for private lenders is free and open: what this market is, the models it takes, the organisation register, the verified practitioners, the warning signs and the complaints route. Membership is for the people selling into your market, not for you.
01 — Why joinWhat membership is for
A market with no professional body has no common vocabulary, no agreed conduct standard, no route for a client to complain, and no voice when policy is made about it. Every one of those costs the people working in it, and none of them is fixed by any single firm acting alone.
- A say in the standards. Members elect six of the nine Council seats and vote on the standards their own work is measured against.
- A public record. An entry in the members’ directory that a client or counterparty can look up.
- A complaints route that exists. Clients of members have somewhere to go, which is worth something to the member as well as the client.
- Eligibility to be assessed. Recognition is a separate process with its own criteria and its own fee, but the standards it measures against are written by the membership.
- The constituency. Private lenders in South Africa are numerous and invisible. A body with members is the mechanism by which that changes.
02 — The two kindsIndividual and organisation membership
They are separate. A person does not become a member because their firm joins, and a firm does not become a member because its people do. Either may be held without the other.
Individual membership
For the people who do the work — consultants, introducers, brokers, originators, administrators, servicers, credit analysts, fund professionals, attorneys, accountants, compliance professionals, risk professionals, recovery specialists, researchers, academics, and others in comparable roles. A ProLend consultant is a good example of the kind of person individual membership is for, and so is an attorney who papers security, a compliance officer, a recovery specialist or an academic studying this market.
What you undertake
- Pay the applicable annual membership fee
- Agree to and abide by the code of conduct
- Give accurate identity and professional-role information
- Disclose the organisations you are associated with
- Comply with the complaints and disciplinary process
- Never describe membership as verification, approval or a licence
- Renew annually
What you get
- A profile in the Member Directory
- Use of the Individual Member mark
- Participation in the Association's research
- Invitations to member briefings and roundtables
- The opportunity to contribute to standards and consultations
- Access to training and professional-development material
- Committee and working-group participation where eligible
- Member events and industry networking
- Recognition as someone building the private-lending profession
Individual Member. Membership records participation in the Association and commitment to its Code of Conduct. It does not mean that the individual has undergone practitioner verification.
Organisation membership
For entities that want to take part in the Association’s work. An organisation does not become a member merely by holding a free listing in the organisation register — that records identity and role, and nothing else.
What the organisation undertakes
- Pay the applicable annual membership fee
- Accept the organisational provisions of the code of conduct
- Nominate an authorised representative
- Maintain accurate organisational information
- Cooperate with any applicable complaints or disciplinary process
- Never represent membership as verification
- Renew annually
What it gets
- Use of the Organisation Member mark
- A member profile
- Research and industry participation
- Invitations to member forums and roundtables
- The opportunity to contribute data and expertise
- Participation in working groups and consultations
- Visibility as an organisation supporting the development of the market
- Access to member resources and briefings
Organisation Member. Membership records participation in the Association and commitment to its Code of Conduct. It is not organisational verification or a recommendation by the Association.
03 — Who may joinEligibility
Membership is open to natural and juristic persons working in or serving the private-lending market who accept the constitution and the code of conduct and are admitted by the Council. It spans all 15 models and all 18 professional roles the Association recognises — it is not confined to any one channel, product or firm.
You do not need a registration, a licence, a designation or a minimum trading history. You do need to be able to give the undertakings below honestly.
An individual who lends only their own capital is welcome to join as an associate member and take part in governance, but gains nothing they did not already have for nothing.
04 — Member classesThe classes
| Class | Who it is for | Vote |
|---|---|---|
| Practitioner member | An individual working in private lending in any of the recognised roles — originator, credit analyst, fund manager, administrator, attorney, servicer, adviser, recovery specialist and the rest. | Yes |
| Organisation member | A business operating in or serving the market: a lender, fund, platform, originator, administrator or professional firm. | Yes |
| Professional and associate member | Professionals whose work touches the market without originating in it — attorneys, accountants, valuers, insurers, academics — and others who support the objects of the Association. | Yes |
| Founding member | The individuals and organisations recorded in the founding documents. Closed permanently. | Yes |
| Honorary member | Admitted by the Council for service to the objects of the Association. | No |
Every member other than an honorary member has one vote, irrespective of class, dues paid, partnership tier or contribution made. That is true of the founder as much as of anyone who joined this morning.
05 — ObligationsWhat a member undertakes
- Work to the code of conduct and the published standards for your role.
- Disclose interests that would affect a decision you take within the Association, or that a client would want to know about.
- Cooperate with any enquiry or complaint concerning you.
- Describe your membership accurately, and not as a recognition status, approval or licence.
Members may be suspended or removed for breaching the constitution, the code or the standards, after written reasons and an opportunity to answer, with an appeal to a general meeting. The complaints procedure sets out how that runs.
06 — Dues and feesWho pays what
The Association charges the market it serves professionally, and charges nothing to the lender it exists to inform. Dues and assessment fees are set by the Council under clause 5.1 of the constitution, published in advance, and the same for everyone in a class.
| Relationship | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Private lender using the education, registers and warnings | Free |
| Lender alerts and community | Free |
| Listing in the organisation register | Free |
| Making a complaint, or asking for a correction | Free |
| Practitioner member | Annual dues |
| Organisation member | Annual dues |
| Professional or associate member | Annual dues |
| Recognised practitioner | Assessment fee, then annual renewal |
| Recognised organisation | Assessment fee, then annual surveillance |
| Partner | Annual partnership contribution |
Charging for an assessment is only safe if it buys the work and not the answer. These are the rules that make it so, and they bind the Council:
- A fee pays for the work of an assessment, never for its outcome. A failed assessment costs exactly what a passed one costs.
- Fees are published. A fee that is negotiated case by case is a fee that can be leaned on.
- No fee buys a listing. A listing is applied for and checked, never bought, and an organisation that pays the Association nothing appears on the same terms as one that pays it dues.
- No fee buys speed, a better outcome, or a say in the criteria.
- No fee is ever charged for making a complaint or asking for a correction.
- Members and partners have no standing in a recognition decision, including one about themselves.
No rate has been set yet. Rates will be published here before they take effect, and no member can be charged a fee that was not published when they joined.
07 — ApplyingHow to apply
Write to members@privatelendingassociation.co.za with your name, the town and province you work from, your role or roles, the organisation you work with if any, any registrations you hold, and anything adverse in the last five years. Applications are acknowledged within three business days and decided within twenty.
Declaring an adverse matter does not by itself prevent admission. Concealing one is a breach of the undertaking you signed.
Membership applications open when the constitution is signed. Membership and recognition are separate: joining does not start a recognition assessment, and being recognised does not require membership. See recognition.