March 2020

23Mar

Kenya’s Pezesha wins CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa 2020 bootcamp

Thirteen Africa-focused fintech startups took part in CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa 2020, which helps companies focusing on financial inclusion to scale. Developed by the LHoFT Foundation, the programme provided selected startups with access to a tailor made program with intensive mentoring, coaching, peer-to-peer learning and dedicated workshops. It culminated in a bootcamp, with Kenya’s Pezesha, a peer-to-peer micro lending marketplace that connects lenders with high quality, underserved, low income borrowers, named overall winner. The other selected startups included three from...

March 23, 2020
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19Mar

Nigeria: Backlog of Unpaid Pensions, One of My Worst Pains ― Ortom

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has apologized to retirees and workers of the state over the inability of successive governments to find lasting solution to the nagging backlog of unpaid pensions in the state. The Governor who tendered the apology in Makurdi while flagging off Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, for the state workforce, said the huge pension liabilities he inherited was one of the unpleasant realities his administration had been battling with. He said "the pension problem was...

March 19, 2020
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13Mar

Inquiry Alleges ‘Substantial Impropriety’ at South Africa’s Public Investment Corp.

A judicial inquiry in South Africa recommended sweeping changes to laws governing Africa’s biggest fund manager after it found senior management, including former Chief Executive Officer Dan Matjila, flouted internal procedures. The investigation, led by retired Judge Lex Mpati, concluded there had been “substantial impropriety” at the state-owned Public Investment Corp., which manages 2.13 trilllion rand ($130 billion) of state-employee pension funds. It found that the board had acted as a “rubber stamp” for Matjila, who failed to disclose...

March 13, 2020
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11Mar

South Africa. The Eskom Pension and Provident Fund overpays for underperformance at the expense of Eskom employees

The Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF) is South Africa’s second-largest retirement provider of defined benefits. Most investors are focused on its solvency ratios and metrics of material costs, and less so on operational costs because of the proportion of the assets under management. A few percentage point changes in the operation costs has never been much of a cause for concern. But when operational costs become a significant financial burden, pensions should take notice. The CEO and principal...

March 11, 2020
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06Mar

Diving Into Three of Africa’s Emerging Fintech Economies

For many, Africa represents the final frontier of untapped economic growth. Across its diverse countries, growth rates continue to outpace those achieved in long-developed economies. Collectively, growth) on the continent stabilized at 3.4% in 2019, and is forecast to reach 3.9% in 2020 and 4.1% in 2021. While these numbers remain below historical highs, fundamentals continue to improve as economies shift from local consumption to external investments. Of the 30 fastest growing cities in the world, 21 are in...

March 6, 2020
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05Mar

East African bloc plans harmonized pension regulation to boost labor mobility

The East African Community (EAC) member states plan to harmonize their pension regulations in order to boost labor mobility across the bloc, an official said on Tuesday. Nzomo Mutuku, CEO of Kenya's Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA), told journalists in Nairobi that the EAC Pension Policy, which was approved by the EAC council of ministers, will provide a roadmap to standardize pension rules. EAC member states include Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and South Sudan. The retirement benefits regulator said...

March 5, 2020
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04Mar

South Africa. Pension funds shouldn’t be ‘fearful’ of Eskom – Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has given the strongest indication yet that the savings of pension funds will be used to bail out Eskom’s debt obligations. Briefing the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) in Cape Town, Ramaphosa said South Africans "weren’t that good" at saving money and that pension funds were the main sources of money to save Eskom. The national power utility has to repay over R450bn in debt. "You have to go to the source of investments. Where...

March 4, 2020
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04Mar

Uganda. World Bank update, a reminder of our development strategy

For the first time, Uganda’s major external funding partner, the World Bank, in its 14th Uganda Economic Update, emphasised Social Protection programmes as an important policy tool for building resilience, mitigating risks and supporting households to invest in human capital development. Uganda has continuously prioritised investment in physical infrastructure over the years and indeed, the proposed budget for the financial year 2020/21 has works and transport taking up the biggest share of the resource envelope at 19.7% up from...

March 4, 2020
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03Mar

South Africa. Ramaphosa backs plan to trim public servants wage bill, instead of affecting pensions

The decision to try cutting the government’s runaway wage bill was a better available option in trimming down the state’s spending. This is according to President Cyril Ramaphosa who, in his weekly newsletter, said that the other available option would have had a bigger and negative impact on civil servants and South Africans in general. According to Ramaphosa, the government had two options available in cutting down its spending - renegotiate 2020 salaries increases with public sector unions or...

March 3, 2020
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February 2020

25Feb

Kenya. RBA in fresh bid to protect early retirees from spending their pension savings before the age of 55

Pensions regulator RBA has embarked on a fresh bid to block employees retiring early from accessing half of their employer’s pension contribution. The Retirement Benefits Authority wants the law allowing employers to keep pensioner’s contributions until they are 55-years-old to be implemented. Read also Nigeria. Investing pension funds: Worries, prospects by stakeholders Through Legal Notice No88 of 2019, the National Treasury sought to amend the Retirement Benefits (Occupational Retirement Benefits Schemes) Regulations 2000, to effect the changes. Read...

February 25, 2020
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