October 2020

27Oct

South Africa. Lockdown forced many to dip into retirement savings to make ends meet – report

Nompu Sizela: Investment manager 10X released its third iteration of the Retirement Reality Report. Previous reports have highlighted the fact that the vast majority of working South Africans are not putting themselves in a position where they’ll be able to retire comfortably. And this year, with the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the outlook has further worsened. Read also Pension fund of S.Africa’s Eskom to invest $170 mln in U.S. projects Well, to tell us more I’m joined on the...

October 27, 2020
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16Oct

South Africa. Billions unclaimed from pension funds

Takalani Lukhaimane of the Financial Services board says over R50-billion worth of pension funds have not been claimed by the rightful beneficiaries. Read also Will emigrating South Africans be allowed to withdraw their retirement savings? The Financial Sector Conduct Authority is urging South Africans to go online through the FCSA database to check if they qualify. Read also South Africa. Deflation puts brakes on retired SA public servants’ pensions "We have various ways in which people can make an enquiry, one...

October 16, 2020
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13Oct

Will emigrating South Africans be allowed to withdraw their retirement savings?

We have come a long way since publication of the draft tax Bills on 31 July this year, and on 7 October 2020, the Standing Committee on Finance (“the Committee”) heard oral submissions on the proposed tax amendments. As one of the few tax firms who made oral submissions to Parliament, we can confirm the most debated amendment remains the one around government’s intention to impose a three-year lock-in period on retirement funds when a person emigrates. Background...

October 13, 2020
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12Oct

South Africa. Deflation puts brakes on retired SA public servants’ pensions

For the first time since the 1990s, nearly 15,000 retired South Australian public servants will see their indexed pensions frozen until consumer prices bounce back – but the state Treasurer has intervened to ensure they don’t lose money. After this year’s record fall in the consumer price index, State Treasurer Rob Lucas has used his legislative discretion to maintain pension payments at their current level to more than 14,300 people in the pre-1986 scheme administered by Super SA....

October 12, 2020
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07Oct

Government unlikely to target South Africa’s retirement funds

The Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA) says that government is unlikely to force retirement funds to invest in specific projects through prescribed assets. Leon Campher, chief executive of ASISA, said that in recent months the various National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) partners, namely government, labour, business and community, tabled their economic recovery plans and not a single one mentioned the prescription of assets as a possible solution. “It needs to be noted that not...

October 7, 2020
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September 2020

28Sep

South Africa. Pandemic accelerates changes in retirement sector

Purpose of Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act is to protect retirement savings. The speed at which the Covid pandemic came upon us, particularly for the employee benefits and retirement fund industry, has been likened by some to a wave of change that was necessary to propel business thinking and its applications forward. This has placed greater emphasis on the growing influence of a multitude of regulations, technologies and social ideas that were already in play before the lockdown took...

September 28, 2020
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24Sep

It’s too early to panic over plans for South African pensions: asset managers

The topic of South African pensions was raised again this week after the Democratic Alliance (DA) called for comment on its proposed Private Member’s Bill to amend the Pension Funds Act. The party wants to amend the Act to enable pension fund members to access a percentage of their pension fund before retirement as a guarantee for a loan. This will help alleviate financial pressure during an emergency such as the coronavirus pandemic or any other emergency similar to...

September 24, 2020
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21Sep

New pension law proposed for South Africa

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for comment on its proposed Private Member’s Bill (PMB) to amend the Pension Funds Act. Read also It’s too early to panic over plans for South African pensions: asset managers The bill aims to amend the current Pension Funds Act to enable pension fund members to access a percentage of their pension fund before retirement as a guarantee for a loan. Read also Ghana: Press highlights plight of pensioners, removal of 7,000 ‘ghost’ names...

September 21, 2020
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10Sep

South Africa. There’s a pensions train smash coming: Magnus Heystek

South Africa is facing a ‘pensions train smash’, says Magnus Heystek, director of Brenthurst Wealth Management, as a number of factors including the poor JSE, a weak economy and new regulations are set to collide. Heystek said in a webinar on Wednesday (9 September), that this collision course is the result of a number of problems in the wider pensions industry which have been building for years. He added that ordinary South Africans are starting to see the problems...

September 10, 2020
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08Sep

ANC on prescribed assets in South Africa

The ANC’s head of Economic Transformation, Enoch Godongwana, says that the party is moving away from talk of ‘prescribed assets’ as economic policy, but still wants to find ways to ‘unlock’ South Africa’s pensions to assist with the country’s infrastructure goals. Godongwana was speaking to Insurance company Alexander Forbes in an interview on a range of economic topics, including the party’s plan for pensions and prescribed assets in South Africa. Read also South Africa. There’s a pensions train...

September 8, 2020
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