November 2019

21Nov

South Africa. Battle to recover R42 billion in unclaimed pension money

A campaign to reclaim billions of rands in unclaimed benefits is about to kick into high gear. The Unclaimed Benefits Committee (UBC), representing a group of claimants, and non-profit organisation Open Secrets, are planning to lobby Parliament. “We will also be calling for a boycott of finance companies involved in withholding benefits,” says Thomas Malakotse, a member of the UBC steering committee. “The fund administrators have been making secret profits for decades by charging fees on these unclaimed assets,...

November 21, 2019
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08Nov

South Africa. Retirement Rogues and the Casualties of Circumstance

There is a mountain of money, R42bn to be exact, sitting in unclaimed benefit schemes out there, just sitting there, getting fatter, which means money for jam for the fund managers, but doesn't afford any jam to the estimated four million people who own this stash of cash. Read also Ghana. Health sector pensioners assured of lump sum payments come January 2020 There are multiple reasons for there being an estimated total of R42-billion in benefits owed to more than...

November 8, 2019
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October 2019

21Oct

South Africa’s PIC to Mull Options to Ease Eskom Debt: Times

South Africa’s Public Investment Corp., the continent’s largest fund manager, will meet in November to consider options on how to help embattled state-run power utility deal with its debt, Sunday Times reported, citing PIC Chairman Reuel Khoza. A strategy meeting would look at how the asset manager could “come to the rescue or assist” Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., the newspaper cites Khoza saying. The PIC would make sure “value of pensioners doesn’t get frittered away” if it steps in...

October 21, 2019
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16Oct

South African study shows how unhealthy ageing takes its toll on health and income

Population ageing is often associated with health-related challenges. But its effects also reach other spheres of life. In particular, an ageing population has a big impact on countries’ economies. Research shows how it can influence a country’s economic growth. And a similar effect can be found at the household level. Read also UK. Queen’s Speech: Govt announces Pensions Bill This is of greater relevance given there is a greater share of the population reaching older age across the world. This...

October 16, 2019
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09Oct

South Africa. The impact of ethical investment by pension funds

The core functions of a pension fund are to provide its beneficiaries with good enough returns for them to live on – and a good enough world to retire into. It makes little sense to simply strive to generate financial returns for pensioners, if the investments that provide those returns are reckless, bad for the planet or perpetuate social inequality and inequity. It is thus common sense that responsible investing – which all investing should actually be – must...

October 9, 2019
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07Oct

South Africa. Prescribed assets would upset the rationale for pension funds

One of the main criticisms of prescribed assets is that forcing pension funds into these investments would hurt individual savers. Besides the market distortions that prescribed assets would create, everyone understands that they would deliver below market returns. Under South Africa’s previous dalliance with prescribed assets, this impact was primarily felt by employers. This is because pension funds back then were run in a different way – they were all based on defined benefits. This meant each member did...

October 7, 2019
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03Oct

Africa’s Biggest Fund Manager Seeks to Salvage Soiled Reputation

The image of Africa’s biggest fund manager has been damaged by allegations of misconduct and breaches of corporate governance and the institution must now strive to preserve what’s left of its reputation, its interim chairman Reuel Khoza said. The Public Investment Corporation, which oversees 2.13 trillion rand ($139 billion) of mainly South African government worker pensions, has been the subject of a commission of inquiry. That’s involved months of public testimony into allegations of political interference and questionable investment...

October 3, 2019
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September 2019

18Sep

Investors Urge South Africa to Leave Their $163 Billion Savings

South Africa’s 2.4 trillion rand ($163 billion) savings industry has a request for the ruling party: stop threatening to dictate where funds must invest and get going on projects that pensions can help finance. “You can prescribe, but nothing will happen unless you have proper projects,” Leon Campher, the chief executive officer of the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa, an industry body of fund managers and insurers, said in an interview in Johannesburg. “The savings industry would...

September 18, 2019
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11Sep

Government’s plan to go after pension funds could financially ruin South Africans

Analysts and opposition parties have warned against government’s plans to force pension funds to invest in bonds issued by government. In August, president Cyril Ramaphosa said that South Africa should investigate using worker pensions to finance development and infrastructure projects. “We need to discuss this matter (prescribed assets) and we need to discuss it with a view to actually saying what is it we can do to utilise the various resources in our country to generate growth in a...

September 11, 2019
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05Sep

South Africa. How SA Can Create a Safe and Sustainable Environment for Retirement

Socially responsible investing is a topic that still does not get the necessary attention in the retirement fund industry. This is despite the fact that Boards of Trustees and Management Committees of retirement funds have a clear fiduciary duty in this regard. Corporate failures related to a lack of proper governance have destroyed close to R800 billion in value for retirement fund members in recent times. Uncertainties related to government policies such as prescribed assets have become an additional...

September 5, 2019
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