Kaya 959 Reporter
Unclaimed pension fund benefits amount to billions of rands in South Africa, with around five million members owed billions of rands.
According to a report released by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) on Tuesday (5 April), the figure was previously estimated at R42 billion in 2020 but has since risen to R47.3 billion in 2021.
Kaya Biz Samuel Magazi who is a manager of the retirement fund in the business sector of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), he spoke about the extent of the unclaimed pension funds in South Africa.
“We still face this challenge where the pension funds are increasing, or the unclaimed benefits are increasing, and people out there are not aware that there are benefits due to them.”
“The funds are trying to trace these people and the FSCA is also trying to assist in that effort,” says Magazi.
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Over the previous year, the FSCA stated it has made some headway in reclaiming lost benefits, with its unclaimed benefits search engine assisting over 14,000 people in receiving payments totalling R1.2 billion.
The National Treasury has also stated that it intends to draft legislation to consolidate and establish a single registry for unclaimed retirement benefits.
The main cause for the high percentage of unclaimed payments, according to the FSCA, is that members move professions without updating their personal information, they lack the financial literacy to grasp the implications, and administrators keep poor records of their members base.
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