The National Treasury recently published amendments to the Pension Funds Act, continuing to prohibit investment in crypto assets such a bitcoin and NFTs.
The amendments relate to sections of the act that protect retirement fund member savings from excessive risk.
Included in this is the continued ban on investing in cryptocurrency or assets.
“Retirement funds will continue to be prohibited from investing in crypto assets. The excessive volatility and unregulated nature of crypto assets require a prudent approach, as recent market volatility in such assets demonstrates.”
A limit of 25% has been put in place, across all asset classes, to limit exposure to any one company. An exception to this is debt instruments issued by, and loans to, the government of the republic and any debt or loan guaranteed by the republic.
The asset allocation to housing loans granted to retirement fund members will also be reduced from 95% to 65% with new loans.
“This is meant to curb abuse of the housing loan scheme by fund members. The National Treasury is mindful of the important role played by housing ownership in wealth creation and in retirement, and will continuously monitor this area of investment.
“As part of aligning various regulatory approaches and achieving consistency, only investments in CISCA-approved hedge funds will be permitted. The reporting exclusion on look-through of CIS and insurance policies has been removed to enable the regulators to collect important statistics on underlying exposures, as part of understanding and monitoring linkages in the financial system and for proactive supervision,” it said.
The amendments follow two rounds of public comments in 2021.
It will take effect on January 3 2023, allowing regulators and fund managers to get up to speed and implement new regulations.
You still can’t invest in bitcoin! What you need to know about new pension fund rules
The National Treasury recently published amendments to the Pension Funds Act, continuing to prohibit investment in crypto assets such a bitcoin and NFTs.
The amendments relate to sections of the act that protect retirement fund member savings from excessive risk.
Included in this is the continued ban on investing in cryptocurrency or assets.
“Retirement funds will continue to be prohibited from investing in crypto assets. The excessive volatility and unregulated nature of crypto assets require a prudent approach, as recent market volatility in such assets demonstrates.”
A limit of 25% has been put in place, across all asset classes, to limit exposure to any one company. An exception to this is debt instruments issued by, and loans to, the government of the republic and any debt or loan guaranteed by the republic.
The asset allocation to housing loans granted to retirement fund members will also be reduced from 95% to 65% with new loans.
“This is meant to curb abuse of the housing loan scheme by fund members. The National Treasury is mindful of the important role played by housing ownership in wealth creation and in retirement, and will continuously monitor this area of investment.
“As part of aligning various regulatory approaches and achieving consistency, only investments in CISCA-approved hedge funds will be permitted. The reporting exclusion on look-through of CIS and insurance policies has been removed to enable the regulators to collect important statistics on underlying exposures, as part of understanding and monitoring linkages in the financial system and for proactive supervision,” it said.
The amendments follow two rounds of public comments in 2021.
It will take effect on January 3 2023, allowing regulators and fund managers to get up to speed and implement new regulations.
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