Why Treasury’s unclaimed assets plan has retirement funds worried

Several financial industry representatives have welcomed proposals for centralised record management of South Africa’s nearly R90 billion in unclaimed financial assets, while raising concerns about the proposed transfer of unclaimed retirement benefits to the Corporation for Public Deposits (CPD).” Resistance to retirement fund transfer Speaking at a Discovery event earlier in August, before National Treasury published the discussion paper, Nancy Andrews, head of legal at Discovery Corporate and Employee Benefits and Discovery Invest, said the industry would lobby against transferring retirement assets if existing protections could be lost, according to Moonstone.

Giles added that retirement fund assets are currently subject to a well-established regulatory framework under the Pension Funds Act, with oversight by the FSCA and built-in member protections.