prescribed assets Archives

03 Feb 2021

Beware of sensational news

By Staff Writer

Fake news has been rampant especially during this lockdown period, and the longer lockdowns (in various forms continue), the more intense fake news is likely to become. However, it is not only false information that is dangerous. The most damage is caused when information is used out of context and inflated to promote a specific agenda. In the world of investment this easily leads people to make the wrong decisions.

26 Feb 2020

Mboweni: PIC money to pay down Eskom’s debt “not a bad idea”

By Janice Roberts

The Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, said in a press conference today – just prior to his Budget Speech in Parliament, that Cosatu’s proposal of using public servant’s pension money managed by the PIC to pay down Eskom’s debt “is not a bad idea.”

20 Feb 2020

Impact investments: A viable alternative to prescribed assets

By Janice Roberts

By: Janina Slawski, Head of Investment Consulting at Alexander Forbes Many proposals and suggestions have been raised to mobilise funds to support developmental imperatives in South Africa. Several have focused on enforcing investment through a prescribed asset programme that would, for example, require retirement funds to invest a portion of their assets in specified assets....

12 Feb 2020

'Oppose pension capture!'

By Janice Roberts

Trade union Solidarity has started a legal process to stop what it calls "the capture" of public servants’ pensions. In a letter to the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) as well as the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Solidarity’s legal team has demanded that the Trustees and the Board of these institutions should not accept the controversial plan to finance Eskom from the GEPF.

29 Jan 2020

DA rejects COSATU’s proposal for workers' pension funds to bail out Eskom

By Janice Roberts

The DA says in a statement that it rejects outright a proposed plan by COSATU to ask the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to avail R254 billion to clear half of Eskom’s debt. “We will therefore write to the Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, and the acting PIC CEO, Vuyani Hako, challenging them to publicly reject the...

01 Nov 2019

SA turns the spotlight on impact investing ahead of 2019 Investment Conference

By Janice Roberts

The country’s second Impact Investment Forum will explore how to put South Africa’s limited financial resources to use to address persistent poverty and inequality. Industry leaders have expressed concern about the ruling party’s proposal to impose a form ofprescribed assetson the country’s investment community – a topic that is expected to provoke some heated debate...

09 Oct 2019

South Africans must speak up to protect their retirement funds – IRR

By Janice Roberts

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) today launched the second phase of its #SaveOurSavings campaign. “This phase of the campaign will focus on pressuring fund managers to determine what they are doing to protect the savings of ordinary South Africans,” the IRR said in a statement today.

12 Sep 2019

Prescribed assets speculation: Don't make irrational decisions

By Janice Roberts

Over the past few weeks, sensationalist media reporting around the issue of prescribed assets, has shaken the already-concerned South African investor. The onslaught of commercially and politically expedient news stories, detailing the potential consequences of prescribed assets, is causing some local investors to make fear-based decisions instead of sticking to rational, fact-based portfolio strategies.

11 Sep 2019

What will it take to achieve alignment behind real growth initiatives?

By Janice Roberts

By Janina Slawski, Head of Investment Consulting – Alexander Forbes. There has been a significantly raised level of interest in the prescribed assets issue in the last few weeks. Questions are being asked on whether this would be preferable to an IMF bailout, Cosatu has come out in support of prescription, and President Ramaphosa has...

11 Sep 2019

Prescribed assets will threaten pension savings

By Janice Roberts

The following speech was delivered in Parliament’s Debate on Prescribed Assets yesterday by the DA’s Geordin Hill-Lewis. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) pose a “very serious risk” to the fiscus, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said. Allow me to quote from a section of the budget speech delivered earlier this year: “Funding requests for SAA, SABC, Denel, Eskom...

10 Sep 2019

IRR welcomes today’s debate on prescribed assets

By Janice Roberts

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) welcomes today’s debate in Parliament on the issue of prescribed assets, it says in a statement. The motion was brought by Geordin Hill-Lewis of the Democratic Alliance (DA), and follows statements by President Cyril Ramaphosa in Parliament that there should be debate on the issue of prescribed assets.

23 Aug 2019

Your nest egg is next - IRR*

By Janice Roberts

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) warns today that remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa in Parliament yesterday indicate that the issue of prescribed assets remains a government policy priority.