The FSCA has withdrawn a proposed conduct standard for retirement fund investments in hedge funds, saying subsequent events have made the standard unnecessary. The draft standard was published by the erstwhile Financial Services Board for public comment in 2015. The FSCA published a revised draft in October 2020. The draft standard proposed that retirement funds […]
The SA Revenue Service (Sars) has issued Binding General Ruling 58, which sets out the approvals by the Sars Commissioner when purchasing an annuity at retirement. This follows the withdrawal of General Notice 18. BGR 58 provides that an annuity must be compulsory, non-commutable, payable for and based on the lifetime of the retiring member […]
The “default” annuity regulations were introduced to encourage the preservation of pension benefits and not to enable retirement funds to duplicate the investments offered by the financial services industry. This was the finding of the Financial Services Tribunal when it dismissed an application brought by the KZN Municipal Pension Fund against the FSCA. The fund […]
Pension fund trustees often have a difficult task in determining who is a dependant – and how much of a death benefit should be allocated to each dependant – when a fund member had different partners and stepchildren, particularly in the absence of a formal divorce settlement. The issue of trustees’ discretion when allocating a […]
An employer does not have to prove fraud, dishonesty or theft to a retirement fund, and a fund is not expected to make a judgment about whether the employer has, in fact, proved a case of fraud, dishonesty or theft against an employee. The fund must merely be satisfied that the employer has made out […]
National Treasury’s second draft amendments to Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act have relaxed the restrictions on investments in infrastructure and will prevent funds from investing in crypto assets. Treasury said it received 39 submissions after it published the first draft in February this year, most of which welcomed the proposals concerning investments in […]
A provident fund’s poor governance processes were to blame for the administrative problems that delayed a benefit transfer, and it had not made a valid case for being granted another extension to effect the transfer. This was the finding of the Financial Sector Tribunal when it dismissed the fund’s application for the FSCA to reconsider […]
At the end of February 2021, the National Treasury published the draft amendments to Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act for public comment. This follows the 2021 Budget and 2020 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement announcements that government is in the process of reviewing Regulation 28 to make it easier for retirement funds to […]
A recent Financial Services Tribunal case highlights the jurisdiction of the Pension Funds Adjudicator (PFA) in so far as group life insurance scheme falls under the Pension Funds Act are concerned. Case background ● Mr B was the spouse of the late Mr B (the deceased). ● The deceased was an employee of the ABSA […]
The Retirement Funds Department of the FSB published Draft Information Circular 6 of 2013 to clarify its views on certain issues, including the payment of fees and commissions when a client elects to transfer funds from one product provider to another. Section 14(7) of the Pension Funds Act provides that: “(a) Notwithstanding anything to the […]
