June 2019

06Jun

South Africa: Why Has the JSE Performed So Poorly?

That the local stock exchange has performed spectacularly badly for investors in recent years is no secret. The detail of why is unfortunately too often overlooked. Examining the JSE's top companies can illuminate the problems of the economy and the business environment - as well as giving us a clue about what might happen to JSE stocks in future. We should be concerned about the state of the JSE because most of us are invested in the stock market,...

June 6, 2019
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03Jun

South Africa. Key Union Tells Eskom’s Top Bondholder to Sell Its Holdings

The labor union whose members contribute most to the funds overseen by South Africa’s state pension manager wants the institution to stop investing in the debt of Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., potentially increasing funding pressure on the heavily indebted utility. The 240,000-strong Public Servants Association said by buying Eskom’s bonds the Public Investment Corp. is exposing pensioners to excessive risk as the state-owned power company is not selling enough electricity to cover its costs and has had to be...

June 3, 2019
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May 2019

29May

South Africa. PIC’s $250m investment in Ecobank was ‘highly speculative’, inquiry hears

A former executive of West Africa’s Ecobank who was suspended for blowing the whistle on alleged accounting irregularities within the organisation has questioned the soundness of an investment made by the Pubic Investment Corporation (PIC) in the bank. The pan-African bank, which is based in Togo, operates in 36 African countries and four other countries outside of Africa. It has the largest footprint among all banks on the continent. Nedbank holds the biggest share in Ecobank, with a 21.1%...

May 29, 2019
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09May

South African Investment Firm Looted Pension Fund With Insider Information

President Jacob Zuma’s surprise sacking of South Africa’s finance minister at the end of 2015 sparked economic panic: The rand plunged to a record low against the dollar and even the normally steady bond market roiled. But one investment company, a little-known boutique operation, raked in at least 133 million rand (US$9.2 million) by trading on the turmoil. Related deals under investigation may have raised the total profit to as much as 500 million rand (US$32 million) as the country...

May 9, 2019
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03May

S. Africa’s Ramaphosa Urges Patience in Corruption Battle

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose party faces a national election next week, urged citizens of the country to have patience and give his government and the nation’s institutions time to deal with the corruption that has indebted the economy and brought state companies to their knees. Ramaphosa Can Win Over South Africa, What About His Own Party? Cyril RamaphosaPhotographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg Ramaphosa took over from Jacob Zuma as national president last year and has described his predecessor’s rule...

May 3, 2019
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01May

South Africa’s insurtech startup Nobuntu raises funding from Crossfin

South African fintech startup Nobuntu, which builds innovative insurance products for lower-income segments, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from fintech holding company Crossfin to help it scale. Nobuntu, which previously raised funding from DFS Lab and was recently selected to take part in the UK-based Go Global Africa programme, currently offers two products – affordable funeral cover, and a pension savings product named The People’s Fund. It has now secured an undisclosed amount of funding from fintech holding company Crossfin, whose portfolio...

May 1, 2019
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April 2019

17Apr

South Africa. Pension fund boards must take climate change into account

A South African pension lawyer has published a new opinion which finds that the boards of South African pension and provident funds must fully consider climate risk when making investment decisions. Failure to do so exposes trustees to the threat of legal liability for losses incurred by the fund as a result. The legal opinion specifies that this is true for funds regulated by South Africa’s Pension Funds Act, and for those funds – like the Government Employees Pension...

April 17, 2019
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11Apr

A new option for retirement … the hybrid annuity

From March this year all retirement funds must offer their members annuity (pension) options that conform to regulations that came into effect in September 2017. The aim of the regulations is to improve the likelihood that you, the fund member, will choose a pension that will last for the rest of your life. These so-called default regulations affect three important areas of retirement saving: how your contributions are invested while you are accumulating savings (Regulation 37 of the Pension...

April 11, 2019
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04Apr

South Africa. Bad governance can undo govt guarantees of SOE investments – pension fund chair

Government guarantees of investments in state-owned enterprises can be made meaningless by bad governance, Dr Renosi Mokate, chair of the board of trustees of the Government Employees Pension Fund said on Tuesday. Mokate was taking parting in a panel discussion on financing sustainable infrastructure at the 4th annual meeting of the New Development Bank, commonly known at the Brics Bank, in Cape Town. The GEPF manages pensions and other benefits for state employees in South Africa. The Public Investment...

April 4, 2019
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March 2019

20Mar

A first step towards justice for South African pensioners

Between 2007 and 2013, more than 6,000 pension funds in South Africa were cancelled in a process littered with errors and oversights. Today, Open Secrets has written to five of the country’s largest pension fund administrators to demand swift action to reinstate pension funds that have been incorrectly cancelled. This is the first of many necessary steps of ensuring accountability for a shameful decade in pension fund administration that has harmed many vulnerable pensioners. The regulatory body that is...

March 20, 2019
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