In a recent communication, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) informed the retirement fund industry that it is in the process of finalising the endorsement of (urgent) amendments to rules of funds received during the course of 2020 brought about by Covid-19 pandemic and the related national lockdown.
On 26 March 2020, the Authority issued FSCA Communication 11 of 2020 (RF) to explain to boards of funds the legislative requirement to submit (urgent) amendments to effect changes to registered rules in respect of employers and / or employees in financial distress as a result of the national state of disaster brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As the Covid-19 pandemic continues and there is no certainty about when and if business practices will resume to what was prior to the pandemic, the Authority has undertaken the process of finalising the formal endorsement of amendments to rules of funds and returning the endorsed versions of the rules to the relevant funds. The Authority has record of the documents to be endorsed and these are being attended to in the order in which they were received, registered and approved. In order to ensure the smooth operation of this process, funds and administrators are requested to allow this process to unfold up until 31 July 2021, which is the envisaged date by which all endorsements of rule amendments received at date of this Communication and related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the national lockdown is expected to be finalised,” according to the Communication.
Click here to download FSCA Communication 9 of 2021 (RF)
Pam Saxby of Legalbrief Today notes that the communication tends to suggest that pension funds affected by the requirement will be expected to apply their respective sets of amended rules indefinitely given that ‘there is no certainty about when and if’ pre-Covid-19-epidemic business practices will resume.
