September 2018

20Sep

South Africa’s state pension fund invests $100 million in Afreximbank

South Africa's state pension fund said on Thursday it would invest $100 million to buy shares in African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) as part of the pension fund's plan to invest in the rest of the continent. The Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which manages roughly 1.9 trillion rand ($130 billion) of civil servants' pensions and is Africa's biggest pension fund, said it would acquire Class B shares in Afreximbank. The PIC said the investment was part of its plan to invest 5...

September 20, 2018
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06Sep

South Africa. PFA decisions can now be appealed with the Financial Services Tribunal

Until recently PFA determinations could only be taken on appeal to the High Court - at great cost - within six weeks of the decision. The Financial Sector Regulation Act, 9 of 2017 (“FSR Act”) considers the Pension Funds Adjudicator as a “decision-maker” and his/her decisions are “decisions” as respectively defined in paragraphs (e) and (d) of section 218 thereof. This section came into effect on 1 April 2018 along with the FSR Act. Thus, the tribunal is now in a...

September 6, 2018
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August 2018

29Aug

South African expats get access to international living annuity

South Africans living abroad and invested in South African retirement annuities (RAs) will be able to transfer their investment to a living annuity with full offshore exposure through investment group Sable International. On retirement, South Africans with RAs can take out a third as a lump sum and transfer the balance to a living annuity where they can draw down 2.5% to 17.5% per year. Their RAs were invested in portfolios with a maximum of 30% offshore exposure in terms of Regulation 28, and while this threshold does not apply to living annuities, most providers keep...

August 29, 2018
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29Aug

Theresa May In Africa: The Future Of Fintech In South Africa, Nigeria And Kenya

A delegation of UK fintech specialists joined Prime Minister Theresa May on her first official trip to Africa and will visit South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya to meet with entrepreneurs to establish trading and export ties in these emerging markets. Representatives from Azimo, the Financial Conduct Authority, Standard Chartered, Farm.ink, the London Stock Exchange Group and the Prime Minister’s Ambassador for Fintech were just some of the 29 leaders that accompanied May on the trip in order to forge connections...

August 29, 2018
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22Aug

South Africa Labor Unions Push for New State Pension-Manager Law

South Africa’s main labor group is pushing parliament to adopt proposed changes to laws regulating the continent’s biggest money manager, which oversees state workers’ pensions, to make it more accountable and give unions representation on its board. Parliament’s finance committee is processing the Public Investment Corp. Amendment Bill, but the Congress of South African Trade Unions fears the state’s decision to appoint a commission to investigate the fund manager’s governance and operating model could derail its adoption. The commission will...

August 22, 2018
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15Aug

South Africa. World Bank: Contributory pension fund could help SA’s poor

A contributory pension system, subsidised for poor South Africans, will impact both poverty and inequality, Parliament has heard - driving "forced savings" and helping people build assets that can be invested. Speaking to Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance (SCOF) on Tuesday, Marek Hanusch, a senior economist for the World Bank's global practice for macroeconomics, shared the organisation's proposed model to address poverty and inequality. The model is based on research in the World Bank's book An incomplete transition: Overcoming the...

August 15, 2018
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July 2018

13Jul

South Africa. Public servants cash out pension then return to work: report

Public servants are resigning to cash out their pensions only to rejoin the public service, according to a report by the public service commission. The commission on Wednesday released its report on efficiency and effectiveness in the public service for the period between January 1 and March 31 2018. It observed a “lack of control” of resignations by public servants to cash out their pensions. The commission has recommended to the Department of Public Service and Administration and the Government...

July 13, 2018
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April 2018

11Apr

South Africa. Why income drawdown strategies in retirement do matter

Pensioners who buy a living annuity at retirement often consider their monthly expenses and draw an initial income that would cover these overheads. Thereafter, a common strategy is to increase the rand amount of the drawdown with inflation every year. By law, retirees are allowed to draw between 2.5% and 17.5% of their capital as income in these vehicles. But Jaco van Tonder, Advisor Services director at Investec Asset Management, argues that this is a poor income strategy. Read more @Moneyweb

April 11, 2018
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December 2017

28Dec

South Africa. Chequered past haunts new chair of multibillion rand pension fund

The Financial Services Board (FSB) has placed the control of the multibillion rand pension and beneficiary funds in the hands of, among others, a trustee with a chequered history. The FSB, which regulates the entire financial services sector except banks, has appointed Jan Mahlangu as one of the interim trustees of the SA Local Authorities (Sala) Pension Fund and the Municipal Councillors Pension Fund (MCPF). In 2010 Mahlangu resigned as Cosatu’s retirement fund policy coordinator after the union charged him following...

December 28, 2017
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19Dec

How South Africa’s Steinhoff, owner of Freedom Furniture, cratered in two days

It looked like Steinhoff International Holdings had reached escape velocity from South Africa's deepening economic gloom: A furniture retailer emulating Ikea's model and global ambitions, built by men with their own compelling rags-to-riches stories. Then the debt-fuelled rocket stalled and came crashing down. From her office overlooking Cape Town's waterfront, Sygnia Investment Management chief executive Magda Wierzycka watched on her computer screen on December 6 as Steinhoff's shares began a two-day plunge that cut the price by 80 per cent and lopped some €10 billion ($15.3 billion) from its market value. Read...

December 19, 2017
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