The theme of this year’s conference was “Challenging the Investment Mindset”. As in previous years it was a well organised, very interesting and informative conference that can only be recommended to anyone who has a role to play in the pensions industry.

‘Consultant round table’
Discussion forum on the role of the consultant lead by Maya French-Fisher of City Press.

• Consultants’ responsibility is to -
  • Unpack products intelligibly;
  • Present appropriate solutions;
  • Focus on conflicts of interest;
  • Adhere to a code of conduct.
• Professionalisation of trustees – not necessarily in terms of qualifications - becomes ever more important.
• A trustee does not need to be an expert if he/she is properly advised.
• Conflicts of interest cannot always be avoided but then have to be managed. Those giving advice must disclose such conflicts.
• Advisers should establish a code of conduct for themselves.
• Treat your customer fairly (TCF) policies suggest that advisers should employ a flat fee rather than an asset based fee.
• Trust in the financial services industry is psychological capital that currently lacks -
  • Needs to be built by better explanations;
  • Align expectations of members with the explanations;
  • Disclosure and transparency must be in plain language;
  • Language and literacy barriers must be bridged.

‘The changing face of distribution in the asset management industry’
Discussion forum lead by Stewart Cazier, MD of Henderson Global Investors.

• Investment capital can nowadays be sourced globally
  • ‘Sovereign investment funds’ and national pension funds are on the outlook for global investment opportunities;
  • Chile has invested US$ 70 billion offshore, other examples are UK, Italy, Taiwan etc;
  • Ban of commission payments does not preclude product providers to agree on fee payments by client to intermediary;
  • Intermediaries must be consistent in establishing and evaluation clients’ needs and for similar needs similar products should be used;
  • Cost focus has moved to ‘total expense ratio’ (TER).

‘The geopolitics of modern Africa for investors’
A presentation by David Murrin, CEO of Emergent Asset Management Ltd, author of ‘Breaking the Code of History’.

• An investor in Africa must meet the following 4 criteria:
  • Must have a geopolitical understanding of the World, Africa and the specific country to invest in;
  • Must understand the business environment , i.e. rule of law, capability of work force, government policy.
  • Must understand the challenges specific to regionalization.
  • Must have specific business development knowledge.
• To understand the world you need to know the past.
  • Every empire goes through an expansive phase and a contractive phase in its history;
  • Expansive phase drives development in the world.
  • Contractive phase drives the decline i.t.o. population demographics.
  • An empire needs maverick entrepreneurial individuals.
  • The growth phase encompasses positive elements.
  • The contractive phase encompassed negative elements.
  • Empires in history have lasted for 200 years.
• Western power, including America, will collapse in the next 10 years.
• The commodity cycle is over which implies that one has to time your investments.
• Climate change is upon us, which will lead to greater conflict and wars.

The most evident question that arises from this conference is how to prepare your company, yourself and your children in the face of global climate, demographic and political change?

Important notice and disclaimer
This article summarises the understanding, observation and notes of the author and lays no claim on accuracy, correctness or completeness. Retirement Fund Solutions Namibia (Pty) Ltd does not accept any liability for the content of this contribution and no decision should be taken on the basis of the information contained herein before having confirmed the detail with the relevant party. Any views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of Retirement Fund Solutions.