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. Verification 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
- Verification 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 9 market sectors 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 verification 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 — The common misunderstandingWhat membership says about you, and what it does not
Anyone working in or around finance meets the same question sooner or later: are you a financial adviser? It is a fair question and the honest answer, for most people in private lending, is no — and no licence is required to do what they do. Marketing a lending product is not advising somebody about a financial product. Administering a loan is not advising anybody about anything.
Membership of the Association does not change that in either direction. It says one thing only: that the member has undertaken to abide by the code of conduct and may be held to it.
| Membership means | Membership does not mean |
|---|---|
| The member has undertaken to abide by the code of conduct. | That the Association has checked anything about them. That is verification, and it is separate. |
| They appear on a public register and can be found. | That they hold any licence, registration or designation. |
| There is a route by which somebody may complain about them. | That they are a financial adviser, or that they are not. |
| They may be suspended or removed for breaching the code. | That the Association approves of, recommends or stands behind them. |
Roles, and which of them need authorisation
The Association recognises 18 roles in private lending. They sit in very different regulatory positions, and a member may occupy several of them at once. Whether somebody needs a licence turns on what they actually do, not on the industry they work in.
| May require authorisation | Generally does not |
|---|---|
| Originator, Introducer, Broker, Consultant, Financial adviser, Fund manager, Issuer, Platform operator, Attorney, Accountant or auditor, Tax professional, Valuer | Credit analyst, Administrator, Servicer, Security trustee, Compliance professional, Recovery specialist |
Where the line falls is a question about advice and intermediary services rather than about job titles — when the law applies sets out which regimes reach a private loan and which do not. A member asked whether they are a financial adviser can answer accurately by describing what they actually do, rather than by reaching for a category.
07 — 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 | R1 000 a year |
| Organisation member | R1 000 a year |
| Professional or associate member | R1 000 a year |
| Recognised practitioner | R5 000 a year |
| Recognised organisation | R15 000 a year |
| Partner | from R50 000 a year |
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 verification decision, including one about themselves.
The rates
| What it is | A year | What the money buys |
|---|---|---|
| Member — individual or organisation | R1 000 | Membership of the Association and one vote, irrespective of class, contribution or partnership tier. The same rate whether you join as a person or as a business. |
| Verified Practitioner | R5 000 | Assessment against the published criteria for a stated role and scope, and the maintenance of the record for a year. Payable for the assessment, not for passing it. |
| Verified Organisation | R15 000 | Assessment of an organisation against the published requirements for a stated role and scope, and a year of surveillance of the record. Payable for the assessment, not for passing it. |
| Partnership | from R50 000 | A commercial partnership, negotiated by tier. It confers no standing in verification and never produces a verification status. |
All rates exclude VAT. One rate for a member, whether a person or a business.
These rates are proposed, not yet adopted
Under the constitution, dues are set by the Council and approved at a general meeting at which every member has one vote. The Council is not yet constituted and no general meeting has been held, so nothing is payable and nobody is being charged. They are published now so that anyone considering applying can see what they would be agreeing to, and so that the figures are on the record before the meeting that decides them rather than after it.
No member will be charged a rate that was not published when they joined.
08 — 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 and verification are separate: joining does not start a verification assessment, and being recognised does not require membership. See verification.