The Financial Services Tribunal (FST) overruled decisions by both Liberty, the pension fund administrator, and the Pension Funds Adjudicator (PFA), recommending that the FSCA should consider taking regulatory action against the fund, its trustees and the administrator. Background The applicant contested the quantum of the retirement benefit paid out to him. He was a member […]
The Financial Services Tribunal (FST) has upheld a decision by the Pension Funds Adjudicator to dismiss a complaint against a Discovery preservation fund, saying the applicant’s complaint was, in fact, against his financial adviser. The applicant, “IK”, joined the Discovery Classic Pension Preserver Plan in 2014. More than R5.3 million was transferred from his previous […]
The Financial Services Tribunal (FST) has dismissed a reconsideration application by a couple who wanted to be provided with a joint-and-survivorship pension because they reconciled and lived together as if married after their divorce. Two issues came into view in this case: The application of section 30I of the Pension Funds Act (PFA), which addresses […]
The Financial Services Tribunal (FST) has reiterated that a retirement fund cannot withhold a benefit if only a criminal case has been instituted against a member. In fact, even if the member has been criminally convicted, it may not do so unless the court has also awarded compensation. The tribunal’s decision provides guidance on whether, […]
The Financial Services Tribunal (FST) has upheld a determination by the Pension Funds Adjudicator that a security guard who lost the use of his right arm following a shooting did not qualify for a disability benefit, because he could perform other duties. The guard (“CN”) retired from the Private Security Sector Provident Fund after his […]
A former Nedbank employee whose withdrawal benefit was withheld has failed to convince the Financial Services Tribunal (FST) to have the Pension Funds Adjudicator reconsider her decision to dismiss his complaint. At Nedbank’s request, the Old Mutual Superfund Provident Fund withheld the withdrawal benefit of “GF”, on the grounds that he was overpaid from February […]
The Financial Services Tribunal has dismissed an application by a fund member’s daughter to have the allocation of her late father’s entire death benefit to her mother reconsidered on, among other grounds, that her parents were separated at the time of his death. The fund member (DM) married his wife (SM) in 1966. He retired […]
The Municipal Employees Pension Fund (MEPF) and its administrator, Akani, have won another court case – this time in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) – that upheld the retrospective application of an amended rule that reduces members’ withdrawal benefits. Read: Adjudicator overstepped her authority in deciding that pension fund’s rule did not apply retrospectively […]
The Financial Services Tribunal has ordered the Pension Funds Adjudicator to reopen a complaint against Old Mutual involving the alleged conversion of a policy to an annuity without the client’s consent. The Adjudicator closed the case in September last year because of a lack of evidence. New information and documentation have subsequently been placed before […]
The Constitutional Court has ruled that the Pension Funds Adjudicator has jurisdiction to hear cases where the complainant was unlawfully admitted as a member of a retirement fund. The court’s ruling clarifies how the definition of a “complainant” in section 1 of the Pension Funds Act (PFA) should be interpreted and states that a “complaint” […]
