The FSCA, National Treasury, and the Pension Funds Adjudicator tell MPs what they are doing to address the non-payment of retirement fund contributions. Regulatory interventions other than COFI may be in the offing.
The FSCA is evaluating whether administration fees are reasonable. If it believes they are not, it will explore whether it is necessary to cap or regulate fees.
Among other things, the revised Amendment Bill will clarify how funds should calculate seeding when provident fund members choose to join the system.
Funds made different calls on the conditions for the exclusion of provident preservation fund members and the seeding date for members who opt in.
The tax structure aims to be progressive, with low-income earners paying little to no tax on withdrawals, while high earners are taxed more.
An application clause will provide for the Pension Funds Act to prevail over the Divorce Act where the Acts’ provisions conflict.
The Association for Savings and Investment SA and the Institute of Retirement Funds Africa also call for amendments not related to the two-pot system to be held over.
The Pension Bill will prohibit members from making a withdrawal from the savings component if the withdrawal results in insufficient funds remaining to settle a court order.
The Minister of Finance responds to the Standing Committee on Finance’s call for the implementation date to be moved to 1 March next year.
National Treasury will introduce the COFI Bill ‘very soon’ and amend the Financial Markets Act to tighten regulation of the country’s financial markets.
The finance committee’s decision seems, in part, to be based on the assumption that some fund administrators will be ready to ‘go live’ on 1 March next year.
