If the government’s proposed reforms to South Africa’s unclaimed financial assets ultimately require unclaimed retirement fund assets to be transferred into a central fund, the retirement fund industry will lobby against the move.
That is according to Nancy Andrews, the head of legal for Discovery Corporate Employee Benefits and Discovery Invest, who spoke at Discovery Corporate’s inaugural Retirement Fund Forum.
The discussion centred on the government’s plan to create a central administrator for South Africa’s estimated R88 billion in unclaimed financial assets – about R51bn of which is held in retirement funds. The aim is to improve record-keeping and tracing, making it easier for people to find and claim benefits that have remained unclaimed for years.
Although Andrews supports efforts to improve the tracing and administration of unclaimed assets, she questioned whether unclaimed retirement fund assets should form part of such a structure.
Why government wants to act
The government signalled its intentions in February, when Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced in his 2026 Budget Speech that reforms were on the way, following recommendations by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority.
The proposal is to establish a central administrator responsible for record-keeping and tracing across retirement funds, insurers, banks, and other financial institutions, making it easier for people to identify and claim benefits to which they are entitled.
National Treasury has since clarified that it is not proposing a central fund for unclaimed assets but centralising their management and administration through a single customer-facing system.
The proposal follows years of frustration over the growing backlog of unclaimed retirement benefits. As Moonstone recently reported, poor historical records, incomplete member information, and decades-old legacy cases continue to frustrate tracing efforts despite improvements in digitisation, data enrichment, and member engagement.
Read: Unclaimed retirement benefits – a problem that won’t go away
One place for unclaimed assets
Andrews said she understood the thinking behind the proposal.
“I think what the intention behind this is because the assets of… the large amount of unclaimed assets, which is R88bn… something needs to happen to actually take control of it,” she said.
As she explained it, the proposal is to create a centrally administered structure covering unclaimed assets across the financial sector.
“It’s not specifically the national savings fund. It’s a centrally administered fund… We’ve already got that in the retirement fund space because we do have unclaimed benefit preservation funds already. But the intention is that all assets from any financial institution will be put in there. So, if you’ve got unclaimed risk benefits, it would be put in there. If there’s unclaimed bank amounts… all of that would be actually controlled.”
One of the potential advantages, Andrews said, is that it could create a single point where advisers and their clients can identify unclaimed assets across the financial sector.
“I think that it opens it up, particularly for advisers… Advisers could be able to help guide members when they locate their assets in that central fund, how to actually invest it, or where to actually move it to, or what needs to be done with that money.”
Rather than spending time trying to establish where forgotten assets might be held, advisers could focus on helping clients decide what to do once those assets have been identified – whether that means investing them, transferring them, or considering other options.
For Andrews, however, making it easier to find unclaimed assets is a separate question from where those assets should ultimately be held.
Why retirement funds are different
Andrews distinguished creating a central point where unclaimed assets can be found and transferring retirement fund assets into that structure.
She said retirement funds already have dedicated unclaimed benefit preservation funds and established processes for administering those assets.
“It does open it up. I mean, it all being in one fund does make it very scary from a retirement fund space. I think the retirement industry as a whole has been very niched in terms of how they actually handle unclaimed assets or unclaimed benefits. So, for us, we have the practice in place.
“Whatever comes down has to be something greater than what we have for us as the retirement fund industry wanting to move into that.”
Andrews also acknowledged that bringing such a large pool of assets together would inevitably raise questions about how those funds might ultimately be invested or used. Asked whether a central structure would give the government greater control over those assets, she replied: “Absolutely, and that’s where ESG, all of the ESG, comes into this. So, it’s a big pot of money which they’re going to use to build the infrastructure of the country.”
Protection of retirement fund assets
Andrews said the retirement fund industry’s concern is not with improving tracing, but with what happens if retirement fund assets are transferred into a central fund.
“I don’t know what protection there would be, but I know that from a retirement fund space, that if this central fund is in place, there would be lobbies against moving the retirement fund monies into this central fund, because of the fact that the protection it currently has may be lost under that fund.
“I can tell you that if it does come out, we will lobby against actually moving it into the central fund that they want to establish.”
