Local retirement rules stipulate that South African fund managers can only allocate a third of their asset pool to investment options abroad. The regulation limits equity exposure to 75% of a portfolio. In addition, there is a maximum limit of 30% in offshore assets and an additional 10% for the rest of Africa.
Over the last five years, the growth rate of the JSE All Share Index was under 7%, while the MSCI World Index returned an impressive 11.43% back to its shareholders over the same period, according to Sygnia Asset Management. Ten years ago the scenario was quite the opposite with ALSI bringing home 16% compared to the MSCI’s more pedestrian performance of 5,40%.
So diversification drives the ambition of local fund managers wanting more exposure to global asset portfolios, she says. Offshore equities exposure also assures protection against a very volatile rand, she says. Johan Gouws, Head of Institutional consulting at Sasfin Wealth says the biggest advantage of Regulation 28 is that it effectively facilitates diversification through its limitations in terms of geographical areas, asset classes and instruments, but also across investor emotions and behaviour.People are therefore not able to liquidate all their investments because of panic,” he says.
Gouws admits that Regulation 28, does share traits with the exchange control regime, which aims to control the outflow of capital from the country. “Don’t assume that offshore investments will always be superior, and offer protection against currency weakness,” he says. “That is a dangerous assumption.”
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