Staff Reporter
Retirement Fund Solutions unveiled the change to its company name on 29 September 2022 to comply with FIMA regulations.
“For 22 years, we traded under the name Retirement Fund Solutions (better known as RFS) but have now been obligated to change our name; the new name, RFS Fund Administrators, was approved earlier this year,” said Marthinuz Fabianus, managing director of RFS Fund Administrators (Pty) Ltd.
During the stakeholder event, where the company name change was announced, Fabianus reflected on the past 22 years and highlighted some of the milestones of RFS.
He advised that RFS established the Benchmark Retirement Fund in January 2000.
He added that NAMFISA, as the Regulator of pension funds, was established out of a directorate in the Ministry of Finance during RFS’ time, and mentioned that the industry has seen a lot of consolidation, with new entrants struggling to survive, whilst there have been mergers and take-overs amongst competing industry service providers.
Insurance companies were dominant service providers to pension funds 22 years ago but this is no longer the case.
In a world where most businesses call on their international affiliations, RFS stated it has put local needs first by operating fully autonomously as an owner-managed business.
“Pension fund structures have undergone substantial changes over the past 23 years with the rise in more individual member focused options as opposed to a group focused needs. The increase in regulatory reporting, requirements and oversight over the past 10 years has been unprecedented. More recently, the industry is seeing a move of stand-alone pension funds into umbrella fund arrangements to reduce costs and deal with the regulatory demands,” Fabianus emphasised.
“Since RFS was established, we saw the increasing demand for member choice investment portfolios by pension funds, which substantially increased the complexity of pension fund administration. We have been a change-defying Namibian success story with a clearly articulated business philosophy and values, such as autonomy, integrity, stability, empowerment, long-term growth, focus, kept promises and customer service excellence.”
Fabianus added that RFS has been a great beneficiary of Namibian business solidarity.
“We enjoy the biggest support from the Namibian SOE sector, followed by the banking sector, but we have an enviable representation in all economic sectors. We are humbled by the support from all business sectors, and I believe we repay the trust and confidence with our service commitment and dedicated staff.”
With a staff complement of 77 employees, RFS administers pension fund arrangements for well over 150 different-sized employer groups.
This involves more than 37 000 members and pension funds’ assets of more than N$25 billion.
The flagship Umbrella Pension Fund and the Benchmark Retirement Fund alone have more than 15 000 members and assets well over N$5 billion.