After a comprehensive public consultation process and submission to Parliament, as required in terms of section 103 of the Financial Sector Regulation Act, 2017 (FSR Act), the FSCA has published the Conduct Standard for Minimum Skills and Training Requirements for Board Members of Pension Funds.
Summary of the conduct standard
| ● | The Conduct Standard is aimed at prescribing the minimum skills and training requirements for board members of funds as provided for in section 7A(3)(a). |
| ● | It further proposes that the certification of the Trustee Starter Toolkit as provided for by the FSCA on the website “www.trusteetoolkit.co.za”, be prescribed as the minimum skills and training requirement as envisaged in section 7A(3)(a) of the Act. The Toolkit will consist of tutorials, case studies, formative (initial) assessments and a summative (final) assessment. |
| ● | Board members who already attained the certification will be required to complete additional modules as and when such additional modules are added to the Toolkit by the FSCA. |
| ● | In addition, the completion of the summative (final) assessment must be done under the supervision of the principal officer or chairperson of the board (who must issue a declaration that the assessment was so completed), except where such supervision is impractical. Where it is impractical the board member can do the assessment without supervision but must complete a declaration stating that the assessment was completed without assistance. The declaration must also be provided to the FSCA on request. |
| ● | The Conduct Standard also provides for a process in respect of how new modules may be determined by the FSCA. |
The following documents are available for download:
