The Financial Sector Conduct Authority has released its Retirement Funds Statistical Report for 2023, which provides a wealth of data about the retirement sector.
The comprehensive report:
- Breaks down key performance indicators, including membership numbers, asset values, contributions, benefits, and cost ratios.
- Analyses investment patterns and returns, comparing performance across different types of funds (privately administered versus underwritten).
- Reviews compliance issues by reporting on non-submission rates of financial statements and regulatory interventions.
- Reviews transformation and Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment practices within the industry.
- Provides aggregated financial statements for transparency and accountability.
- Lists FSCA-registered fund administrators as of December 2024.
- Concludes with a directory of staff members in the FSCA’s retirement funds supervision division.
Here is a high-level sample of some of the data in the report:
- The total number of retirement funds decreased to 4 904 in 2023 from 4 987 in 2022, with 84 cancellations and only one addition. Privately administered funds dropped from 2 878 to 2 817, and underwritten funds from 2 100 to 2 078.
- Total fund membership rose to 18.6 million (up from 17.3 million in 2022), including active members, pensioners, and beneficiaries across all fund types.
- Aggregate assets grew to R5.84 trillion from R5.56 trillion in 2022. The Government Employees Pension Fund dominated with R2.33 trillion, followed by FSCA-regulated privately administered funds at R2.72 trillion and underwritten funds at R689 billion.
- Total contributions increased by 2.8%, from R 297.5bn in 2022 to R306bn in 2023.
- Total benefits paid increased by 1.2%, from R429.2bn in 2022 to R434.2bn in 2023.
- FSCA-registered funds allocated 54.57% of investments to equities (domestic: 31%), 27.31% to debt instruments (domestic: 23.92%), and 9.66% to cash. By comparison, in 2022 FSCA-registered funds allocated 54.47% of investments to equities (domestic: 32.6%), 28.68% to debt instruments (domestic: 26.59%), and 7.57% to cash.
- FSCA-registered funds’ return on investments was 10.79% in 2023, compared with 5.95% in 2022 and 18.96% in 2021. The average return over five years was 8.41%.
- The total expense ratio (TER) of FSCA-registered funds was 0.988% in 2023, compared with 1.049% in 2022. The average TER over five years was 1.022%.
Click here to download the 2023 Retirement Funds Statistical Report.
