On average the suspension was for a period of 4.5 months, however, two funds indicated they had suspended contributions for a year or more. In the case of union funds, 70% indicated that retirement contributions had been suspended for an average of five months.
However, this positive difference was not widespread. Since the introduction of the default regulations in 2019, stand-alone funds providing advice at retirement had increased by 38%. But Rigitté van Zyl, chief client officer at Sanlam Corporate noted there was a perceived lack of improvement in member behaviour regarding preservation and annuitisation since the implementation of default regulations.
The Sanlam Benchmark Survey 2021 shows that stand-alone retirement funds indicated they would invest on average 6,6% of their fund assets into infrastructure, with participating employers of umbrella funds indicating an allocation of around 4,7%. “While this may appear to be a fairly small allocation, considering that retirement funds consist of around R4.5-trillion in assets, it translates into almost R300-billion in direct infrastructure investments, which is fairly substantial,” Moodley says.
Dr David Knox, the lead author of the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index , observed at the recent Allan Gray Retirement Benefits Conference that an ideal retirement income system should not be solely focused on the provision of a lump sum at retirement; but rather on providing adequate and sustainable income and benefits throughout retirement.