October 2020

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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August 2020

27Aug

South Africa. Govt won’t force pensions to be invested in infrastructure projects, says deputy fin minister

- Government does not intend to force pensions to be invested in certain assets, says Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo. - Amendments to regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act is purely to broaden the scope of investments trustees of funds can consider, he said. - Masondo says trustees have a fiduciary duty to deliver better returns to members of funds. Government has no intention of forcing pension funds to invest in specified projects or assets which...

August 27, 2020
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20Aug

A step closer to retirement reform in South Africa

By Jerry Botha, managing partner, and Jean Du Toit, head of tax technical at Tax Consulting South Africa As announced in the Budget Speech, any South African leaving in future will be subject to a much stricter process from 1 March 2021 onwards. But there was also a surprise 3-year lockup announcement for anyone with a South African pension fund, seeking to leave South Africa. This appears a sign of things to come for private pensions in South Africa....

August 20, 2020
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19Aug

South Africa. Enoch Godongwana: Prescribed assets won’t be used to bailout struggling SOEs

RYK VAN NIEKERK: The contentious issue of prescribed assets was a prominent topic of discussion during an ANC webinar on Monday night regarding the party’s economic policy. During the webinar Enoch Godongwana, the head of the ANC’S economic transformation subcommittee, strongly denied that proposed changes to Regulation 28 are aimed to force pension funds to bail out struggling state-owned enterprises, or to fund a state-owned bank. Enoch Godongwana is on the line. Enoch, thank you so much for joining...

August 19, 2020
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17Aug

South Africa. ANC planning to use pension funds to launch state-owned bank

Reports have surfaced which reveal that the African National Congress (ANC) is working on plans to create a state-owned bank which will use pension funds to gain access to favourable rates. Read also South Africa. Enoch Godongwana: Prescribed assets won’t be used to bailout struggling SOEs A report published by the Sunday Times on Sunday Augst 16, which revealed that the ANC has developed a recovery plan and one of the efforts involved would be an effort to invest in...

August 17, 2020
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