January 2022
04Jan

South Africa. Allowing withdrawals from pension funds to increase retirement savings

To allow limited withdrawals from pension funds will actually help people to save more for their retirement, according to a study by National Treasury. The research found that people sometimes resign from their jobs for the sole reason of accessing their pension fund in emergencies, and end up spending everything. The proposal to split retirement funds into two ‘pots’ and give people access to withdraw from one is expected to solve the problem. Treasury recently published more information on this and...

January 4, 2022
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November 2021
30Nov

Why Is Africa’s Largest Pension Pulling Out of Africa’s Largest Asset Management Firm?

Africa’s largest pension, the South Africa-based Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), allowed its contract with the country’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to lapse, effectively pulling $4.4 billion out of the continent’s largest asset manager. Read also Here Are The Regulatory Changes In The Kenyan Pensions Industry For the $110 billion pension, this equates to approximately 4% of its total assets under management (AUM). The contract was five years long and expired this past March. Read also Bosnia miners end 9-day protest after...

November 30, 2021
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19Nov

South Africa. Government pension fund freezes R70 billion mandate with PIC

The Government Employees Pension Fund, Africa’s biggest pension fund, said it may take as long as a year to negotiate a new mandate with Public Investment Corporation that will allow it to enter into new unlisted investment deals. The PIC oversees a R70 billion unlisted investment fund for the GEPF, but its mandate lapsed in March, said Musa Mabesa, the GEPF’s principal chief executive. While deals initiated before it ended can be completed, new ones can’t be concluded, he said. The...

November 19, 2021
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03Nov

Waiting to save: The cost of delaying your retirement funding

Putting enough money away for a comfortable retirement is a daunting task and, while we all know that starting early is critical, the numbers are alarming. Statistics from the 2021 10X South African Retirement Reality Report which has just been released are frightening. Around half the people surveyed indicated that they are making no provision for retirement at all, while the other half indicated they have some form of savings plan in place. 74% of survey respondents accept that...

November 3, 2021
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01Nov

South Africa Pension Funds To Exclude Non-CBDC Crypto Assets

South Africa Restricts Non-CBDC Crypto The South African government, in an effort to push its CBDCs, has introduced legislation that restricts non-CBDC crypto from being invested in pension funds. The new regulations are in sharp contrast to the older regulations that allowed portfolio managers to invest around 2.5% of funds into the category of “other assets,” which also included crypto assets. The new rules, however, exclude cryptocurrencies, citing a lack of protection. The Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System in the...

November 1, 2021
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October 2021
20Oct

They Fought Apartheid in South Africa. Now They Want Veterans’ Benefits.

Lesley Kgogo was 17 years old when he traded a school uniform for military fatigues and joined the armed wing of the African National Congress in the fight to overthrow the apartheid regime in South Africa. He was among thousands who trained and slept in bush camps in other countries and then returned to join the insurgency that ultimately helped to topple the repressive white-minority government. Read also South Africa. Millennials hardest hit financially in 2020, study shows More than 40 years...

October 20, 2021
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18Oct

South Africa. Millennials hardest hit financially in 2020, study shows

Young people employed in medium to large companies and belonging to a retirement fund were harder hit financially by the pandemic than their middle-aged colleagues, with higher retrenchment rates and higher levels of financial stress, as measured by their credit scores and their default rates on debt. This is one of the findings of the annual Alexander Forbes Member Insights report, released this week, which surveyed almost a million members across the hundreds of retirement funds Alexander Forbes administers. While...

October 18, 2021
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11Oct

South Africa: A New Social Assistance Assessment Aims to Help Strengthen Policies and Programs for the Poor

By  India Education Diary Bureau Admin  The World Bank, in collaboration with the Government of South Africa, released a new report assessing the country’s social assistance programs and systems. In an environment of high unemployment, persistent poverty, weak economic growth and shrinking fiscal resources that has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Social Assistance Programs and Systems Review: South Africa report underscores the critical role of the grant and social assistance system in mitigating poverty. This report also provides...

October 11, 2021
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08Oct

National pension reform: Why it is imperative in South Africa

When the Department of Social Development (DSD) released its Green Paper on Comprehensive Social Security and Retirement Reforms, the proposal to set up a national pension scheme was swiftly shot down. The Green Paper proposed a National Social Security Fund to which all workers earning over R1,667 a month would contribute. Employers and employees would initially contribute between 8% and 12% of earnings up to a ceiling of R23,000 a month. Such was the force of the opposition that there was...

October 8, 2021
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06Oct

Will South Africa’s social security reforms impact HNWs?

In September 2021, The South African Department of Social Development withdrew its Green Paper on Comprehensive Social Security and Retirement Reform. The paper proposed to introduce a government-run social security fund that would have allowed people to receive retirement, survivor, disability and/or unemployment benefits. Contributions would have been based on a person’s income and wealth, with different bands and benefits provided accordingly. But the government gazetted the green paper to “provide better clarity on some of the matters entailed [in it]”...

October 6, 2021
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