A woman’s view on the world of investments – Cora Fernandez

We need more women on Boards

You have taken it upon yourself to make sure the business retains its focus on the client. What does client-centricity mean to you?

“Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them.” – W. Edward Deming.

Our aim is to expand and deepen our understanding of our customers, their needs and their buying criteria. Once we achieve that, we can match the client’s needs to our capabilities, products and services. It’s a long tough journey, since you are trying to undo and redo decades of processes, interfaces and behaviours which have not kept pace with the customers’ evolving needs. When our customers become advocates of Sanlam Investments, we have delivered the ultimate client experience.

The tsunami of regulation that hit the financial services sector in the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis was actually a response from regulators worldwide telling the sector “you are not treating you customers correctly or you don’t know how to treat your customers, so we will give you the rules to do so”. The customer-infused regulation is actually an insult to the industry, if you ask me. Why do we need regulators to tell us how to do the right thing for our customers? Surely that is obvious. In light of all the headlines, it is clear that the regulators were correct. Welcome client-centricity.

Cora Fernandez
Head of Institutional at Sanlam Investments

What can retirement fund trustees do to make women aware that they need to consider a wide range of factors when deciding how much to save?

I think its vital that trustees ensure they have strong women representation at their boards. I always find it strange that you have boards of trustees that do not remotely resemble the demographics of the retirement fund members, more so since retirement fund provision is such an important aspect of people’s livelihood. I take great comfort from decisions that have been subject to diverse perspectives since, in my view,  it reduces the risk of “blind spots” and “tunnel vision.