Independent Principal Officer (SARAF) - Pinelands at Old Mutual South Africa

Job Description

• The South African Retirement Annuity Fund (the Fund) is a commercial retirement annuity fund with Old Mutual as the Sponsor. The Fund has almost 1million members and total assets of over R100bn.
• The current Independent Principal Officer will retire by 30 June 2025, and the Board of Trustees in conjunction with the Sponsor has decided to advertise this future vacancy now, to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities to the future incumbent. The Independent Principal Officer will be based at the Fund’s offices in Pinelands, Cape Town with a start date in the new year.
• The Independent Principal Officer reports directly to the Independent Chairperson of the Board of Trustees. The position will be ideal for an experienced, ambitious, and high performing individual who wants to take up the governance challenges that a large underwritten commercial retirement annuity fund structure offers.
• As Principal Officer of the Fund, it will be your task to assist the Board of Trustees to oversee the implementation of risk-based management strategies, provide executive and operational support to the Board of Trustees with particular emphasis on, but not limited, to the following:

Key focus areas of the Position

• Responsible for executing the instructions of the Board of Trustees;
• Assume the appointment as Information Officer of the Fund and fulfil all related duties and responsibilities as required by the Information Regulator and/or delegated by the Board of Trustees;
• Approval and signing of Section 14 transfers and overseeing that Section 14 transfers are administered by the Fund’s Administrator in compliance with the relevant Conduct Standard to ensure that obligations to members are met;
• Manage the Fund’s complaints management process, review and approval of responses to complaints;
• Assume signing responsibilities as delegated, which includes the review of information for correctness;
• Promote good corporate governance in all matters relating to the Fund;
• Attend all board and sub-committee meetings, manage the review of meeting minutes and managing action items and deliverables;
• Ensure that the Fund’s annual communication plan is compiled, and all communication deliverables and interventions implemented.
• Ensure that agreements and contracts with service providers are in place, complete, up to date and reviewed, as well as the associated management thereof.
• Manage the Fund’s budgeting process, expense management and reporting to the Board of Trustees.
• Manage and oversee the daily operations of the Fund and execution of Board decisions, facilitating the process to empower the Trustees to perform their duties.
• Ensure that the Fund complies with the formal requirements of the law, including directives from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (the FSCA), South African Revenue Services and any other relevant regulatory authority.
• Assist with compilation of presentations, drafting of letters, and other such administrative support as requested by the Board of Trustees.
• Assist the Board of Trustees with management of third-party payments, Section 37D maintenance and divorce order considerations in line with the Fund’s policy, procedures and delegation of authority. In undertaking this task, the incumbent is expected to apply his or her discretion as required in terms of the Pension Funds Act.
• Represent the Fund by attending selected operational meetings.
• Manage agreements and contracts with the Funds’ service providers to ensure that they are in place, complete, up to date and reviewed. Ensure that finalised contracts are safe-guarded in a repository.
• Assist the Board of Trustees in ensuring that the Fund Governance and Risk Management Plan is up to date.
• Attend and participate in death claims committee meetings in line with the death benefits protocol.
• Manage compliance by the Fund with the requirements of all applicable legislation, including Conduct Standards and directives from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, South African Revenue Service, and any other relevant regulatory authorities.
• Management of all litigation against the Fund, including engagement with external and internal legal specialists and the Administrator.
• Manage all queries from the FSCA, Fund members and other stakeholders.
• Manage the Funds’ rule amendments by liaising with the Fund’s legal representative, as and when needed.
• To perform such other task or assistance as may be required.
• Relevant tertiary qualification and skills. The following would be advantageous:
  • A post graduate degree in commerce or relevant law;
  • Principal Executive Officer qualification;
  • Knowledge of fund administration relating to retirement annuity funds;
  • Knowledge of underwritten funds;
  • Knowledge of multiple administration platforms and retail products;
• Have experience in the adjudication of the allocation decisions of death benefits payable in terms of Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act.
• Must complete the FSCA trustee toolkit training and obtain certification within six months of appointment.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills and be able to effectively engage with stakeholders at all levels including the various regulatory bodies.
• Have strong administrative skills, computer literacy in MS Office and related packages with a high level of competence in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and SharePoint.
• At least 5 years’ experience as a Principal Officer in a fund of a similar nature, size and complexity, an employee benefits consultant or manager of funds.
• Understanding, knowledge and experience of the Retirement Fund Industry.
• Experience in dealing with people in formal and informal work environments, with the ability to engage collaboratively with staff of the Fund’s Administrator over whom you have no direct authority, to execute tasks and actions assigned to them by the Board and Sub-committees.

Attributes of the individual

• Preference will be given to affirmative action candidates or designated groups.
• Competence and soundness of judgement in carrying out responsibilities;
• Diligent in the fulfilment of the Principal Officer and Information Officer responsibilities.
• Must be self-motivated as the person will be working in a core team and will need to take personal responsibility for completing tasks in an acceptable manner and will have to perform such functions as delegated by the Board of Trustees;
• Be comfortable in establishing relationships with the Sponsor, Administrator and the other Fund’s service providers;
• Be prepared to subject themselves to peer review.