IN THIS ISSUE

On 20 February, National Treasury published the final regulations governing the Tax Free Savings and Investment Accounts that were introduced by the Income Tax Act during 2014. The regulations have been gazetted and members have started rolling out their product solutions.

The 2014 statistics for the local CIS industry were made public at a media conference held in Johannesburg on Tuesday, 10 February.

The statistics showed that investors had almost R1.7 trillion invested with the local CIS industry at the end of December 2014 – an increase of around R200 million from the R1.5 billion invested at the end of 2013.

In addition, journalists were also presented with a snap shot of the South African hedge fund industry and a progress update on regulating hedge funds.

The hedge fund industry grew its assets under management by a healthy R10.5 billion in the 12 months to 31 December 2014, ending the year with assets under management of R57 billion.

The media conference ended with a consumer education message, which focused on “Avoiding the sandwich generation trap by saving through good times and bad without losing sight of your long-term goals”.

Hedge funds were declared Collective Investment Schemes by the Minister of Finance in terms of section 63 of the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act, 2002 effective from1 April 2015.  The declaration was published in the Government Gazette on 25 February 2015.  The regulations supporting this declaration are expected to be released by the FSB in March 2015.

ASISA had raised concerns with the FSB regarding the implementation of BN 92 effective from 1 March 2015.

On 26 February, the FSB extended the implementation date of BN92 to 1 May 2015.

On 11 December 2014, National Treasury published a revised draft of the Financial Sector Regulation Bill for public comment by 2 March 2015.  ASISA members submitted comments. An ASISA work group reviewed these and made a submission to National Treasury.

Together with the above-mentioned revised Financial Sector Regulation Bill, National Treasury released a discussion document “Treating Customers Fairly in the Financial Sector: A Market Conduct Policy Framework for South Africa”. The discussion document sets out a comprehensive framework for how the market conduct regulator will operate in order to ensure that financial institutions treat their customers fairly. 

ASISA members were requested to submit comments to ASISA by 9 March, 2015.  A work group will review comments received and finalise a submission by the due date of 8 April 2015.

The FSB conducted a workshop for stakeholders on the mandate and role of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in the future twin peaks regulatory framework. Presentations are available on the FSB’s website.

We found this engagement to be positive and beneficial and would support more regular sessions of this nature. We would like to thank Liberty for hosting this session and Steven Braudo from Liberty and Jacques Marnewicke from Sanlam for participating in the panel discussions.

ASISA has been invited to participate in a work group hosted by National Treasury and including participants from the FSB and South African Reserve Bank (SARB) relating to Foreign Member Funds as announced in the 2014 budget.

The goal is to clarify the regulations pertaining to registration, operation and promotion/awareness of these funds. This will include tax implications to investors and fund managers of investments made via these funds.

The first meeting was held in February and monthly meetings are planned for the next six months. Member input will be requested following the next ASISA Investments Board Committee meeting.

ASISA members have been struggling to implement WTI by 1 March 2015 for various reasons outside of their control. The WTI is a tax charged on interest paid (on or after 1 March 2015) by any person to or for the benefit of a foreigner from a source within South Africa. The foreigner is responsible for the tax, but the tax must be withheld by the person making the interest payment to or for the benefit of the foreigner.

ASISA and the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA) have been working closely together with SARS to try and resolve some of the issues but unfortunately time ran out. National Treasury was approached for an extension, but the request was declined. Unfortunately this could result in poor outcomes for tax compliance by members.

All ASISA members who offer living annuities are reminded that the annual reporting deadline in terms of the ASISA Standard on Living Annuities for 2014 is the end of March 2015.

The completed templates should be sent to Sunette Mulder by the end of March.

In February the Academy commenced its first partnership programme with the University of Johannesburg (UJ)– our third South African university partner to date.

This initiative sees us combining the successes of our Collective Investment Schemes and IMACS@TSiBA programmes by taking a group of UJ graduates through a CIS intensive work-readiness programme after which they will work for six months as interns for ASISA member companies in Johannesburg.

In Cape Town, the IMACS@TSiBA programme has started with a group of excited final year TSiBA students engaging with industry presenters for the next six months prior to starting their internships. We encourage ASISA members as employers to explore how they can work with the Academy and its university partners to facilitate transformation and the future of our industry.

The Academy Retirement Fund Trustee Education partnership programme with the ASISA Foundation is going from strength to strength with three Investment Fundamentals workshops already having taken place in February with overwhelmingly positive feedback. This is in addition to the annual Equity Analyst Bootcamp and a number of Financial Services Industry Overview Blitzcamps which also took place in February.

We want to remind our stakeholders about the Claritas Investment Certificate. This is a CFA Institute Programme aimed at investment administrators and other staff involved in supporting investment decision makers. The Academy runs a Clarita Exam Readiness Programme to support candidates in preparing for this exam. For more info please e-mail info@asisaacademy.org.za.

The Academy has hit the ground running in 2015 with more to come in March, including the Cape Town Financial Journalists Bootcamp, a graduate employee Blitzcamp at Sanlam and the first UCT CIS Short Course and UCT IMACS Short Course for the year.

We would like to urge you to register for the ASISA 2015 Conference, which will be held on 5 and 6 May at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.  The theme for this year’s Conference is “The Tipping Point”.

We have secured an impressive line-up of presenters and almost a third of the seats have already been sold. Registrations close on 30 April 2015.

The Conference will include an exhibition under the theme “The Cutting Edge” where various service providers will showcase the latest developments relevant to the savings and investment industry. More than half of the available exhibition stands have been sold.

For more information and registrations please click here.

Kind regards

Leon and Peter