September 2021
15Sep

South Africa. Micro pensions — a viable alternative to the NSSF

By Petri Greeff Whatever the reasons for the release and subsequent withdrawal of the green paper on comprehensive social security & retirement reform, it has sparked important debate, particularly around its call for a mandatory, contributory state pension fund. The many challenges facing the proposed National Social Security Fund (NSSF) have already been outlined by others. Nevertheless, about 6.2-million workers, primarily low-income in both the formal and informal sectors, are not covered by private pension schemes, according to the paper. So...

September 15, 2021
News, OP Ed, Slider,
Read more...

August 2021
30Aug

Plan for early pension access in South Africa could do more harm than good, authorities warn

Financial authorities have warned that the proposed Pensions Funds Amendment Bill could have a harmful impact on financial savings in South Africa. The bill, which was tabled by the opposition Democratic Alliance, will allow retirement fund members to access a portion of their savings in cash before retirement as a guarantee for a loan. The bill makes provision for this by amending the current Pension Funds Act to allow pension fund members to obtain a loan, secured by a guarantee from...

August 30, 2021
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
19Aug

South Africa proposes a mandatory pension system

Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, has published a Green Paper on comprehensive social security and retirement reform for public comment. It includes a mandatory pension and insurance system among the proposals. Read also Warning over major retirement change for South Africa The department said that the absence of a statutory arrangement providing pensions and insurance is the most obvious gap in South Africa’s social security system. Read also European Union: Putting A “PEPP” In The Step Of European Pension Providers? “Such an arrangement...

August 19, 2021
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
16Aug

Warning over major retirement change for South Africa

National Treasury has published further details around a new retirement system proposed for South Africa that will allow people to access a portion of their savings early in times of a financial emergency. Treasury has described it as a ‘two-bucket’ system: The first bucket for longer-term financial security – Members must preserve their contributions and the compounded growth invested. They will not have access to this portion of their funds until they retire. The second bucket for short-term financial relief – Members...

August 16, 2021
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...

July 2021
30Jul

Mboweni pushing for major retirement change in South Africa

Finance minister Tito Mboweni wants a key regulatory change that will allow South Africans to access their retirement funds early. The finance minister said in a media briefing on Wednesday (28 July), that the change will be made with the proviso that workers use any funds in a responsible manner. He said that workers should be able to access a portion of their retirement funds during ‘difficult times’ – whether it be for a bond repayment or to pay off debt. “A...

July 30, 2021
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...

June 2021
22Jun

South Africa. UDM President says PIC must be taken to court

UDM President, Bantu Holomisa has rallied behind the PSA in its cries for pensions to not be touched when it comes to the SAA and PIC ownership deal. On Monday, 21 June 2021, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) President, Bantu Holomisa backed an article from a local publication. The article alleged that the Public Servants Association (PSA) is concerned that its workers might lose their pensions, due to the involvement of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) in South African Airways’...

June 22, 2021
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
16Jun

A preservation ‘revival’ will supercharge South Africa’s retirement outcomes

South Africa's retirement outcomes will improve radically if all retirement funding contributions are kept invested when fund members change jobs. Other quick wins include increasing the minimum government pension; delaying the government retirement age beyond 60 years; and refocusing the industry from saving a lump sum at retirement to providing a sustainable income in retirement. These observations were made by Dr David Knox, the lead author of the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index (GPI), during a keynote address to...

June 16, 2021
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
15Jun

PIC confirms it owns 30% of new SAA consortium partner

The PIC has confirmed that it owns 30% of Harith General Partners, an investment group that's part of a consortium that will own a majority stake in SAA. While still the head of corporate finance at the PIC, Tshepo Mahloele, spearheaded the creation of Harith - which was founded with PIC investments. He later left the PIC to run Harith. The commission that investigated wrongdoing at the PIC found that Harith's conduct "was driven by financial reward to...

June 15, 2021
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
14Jun

Black tax, debt and inadequate pensions – South Africans have little to nothing left to save

How do you tell a person avoiding debt collectors and cutting down food spend that they need to save more for retirement? This was one of the burning questions at Allan Gray's first retirement benefits conference last week. Confronted with "black tax", rising food costs, exorbitant electricity prices and a debt-to-disposable-income ratio of 75.3% in the last quarter of 2020, saving for retirement is the last thing in the minds of many South Africans. According to the Mercer CFA Institute Global...

June 14, 2021
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
04Jun

Botswana’s $7.5 billion pension fund appoints South African administrator

Botswana’s Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOF), with 83 billion pula ($7.85 billion) in assets under management, has appointed South African advisory firm NMG Benefits to administrate the fund. Effective June 2, NMG Botswana, a joint venture between BPOPF (51%) and NMG South Africa (49%), will collect contributions, manage payrolls and maintain records for the 156,000-member fund, it said late on Wednesday. The outsourcing of the fund’s administration is to comply with a 2017 decision by Botswana’s regulators that all pension funds...

June 4, 2021
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...