Safair Retirement Fund — Chair Prep

Management Committee meeting · 3 June 2026, 11:30 SAST · prepared from the PSG agenda pack received 28 May 2026.

Primary source: “Safair Agenda Pack 3 June 2026.zip”21 PDFs analysedAdmin report unlocked with agenda password

Fund assets at 31 Mar 2026

R444.4m

Down R8.35m / -1.84% vs 31 Dec 2025 R452.75m.

Net assets vs member credits

1.58%

Diff R6.88m. Below the 2% FSCA threshold noted previously, but still worth confirming.

Q1 investment return

~ -3.0%

Moderate Aggressive -3.02%; Moderate -3.00%. Conservative +4.95%.

Annual review attendance

574

Strong reach, but clear literacy/trust gaps surfaced.

Executive read — the meeting in 90 seconds

Investments: short-term pain in Q1: both Moderate Aggressive and Moderate were negative and behind benchmark / PSGW FoF over 3 and 6 months. Long-term 3- and 5-year returns remain broadly respectable, but the Moderate portfolio trails PSGW FoF across all periods shown.
Administration: NMG service quality was explicitly flagged in the prior minutes as “nowhere near where they should be”. This pack shows 64 claims carried forward at quarter-end, including 60 withdrawals and 2 death claims older than 12 months.
Two-Pot: active and mostly digital. Since inception: 496 withdrawals, R4.642m withdrawn; 69% via WhatsApp; 40% of members who withdrew have done so multiple times. March 2026 was the largest spike.
Member sentiment: annual review sessions revealed real confidence/understanding issues — technicians comparing the fund unfavourably with personal RAs and some reducing pension contributions to the minimum to invest externally.
Governance: COFI readiness should be treated as a standing workstream: governance, activity mapping, TCF/fair-treatment, reporting, transformation and operational capability.

Questions to ask in the room

Investment underperformance: What specifically explains the Q1 negative returns and the Moderate portfolio’s underperformance versus benchmark/PSGW FoF? Is this asset allocation, manager selection, cash flows, fees, or timing?
Member trust: What is the concrete response plan to employees reducing contributions due to perceived poor growth? Who owns follow-up education and by when?
NMG service backlog: Since the February commitment to clear the backlog and train new administrators, what has improved, what SLAs were missed, and what is still outstanding?
Old death claims: Why are 2 death claims still in the 12–24 month bucket, and what exact blockers remain?
Risk premium recon: Is the R65,702.29 risk-premium receivable still the same Momentum/NMG unresolved reconciliation from February, and what is the closure date?
Benefit statements / portal: Are NMG portal login issues resolved same day as decided, and can PSG/NMG report adoption metrics before stopping email statements entirely?

Decisions / outcomes to land

Agree whether the committee accepts the investment explanation or requests a formal manager/asset-allocation review.
Request a written NMG remediation dashboard for claims backlog, member queries, portal access, and contribution-investment timing.
Commission a simple employee-facing “how the fund is invested / why returns fluctuate” explainer after the annual-review feedback.
Confirm whether management fees under item 5.3 require a decision today or just discussion.
Put COFI readiness on a tracked decision/action register, not just “General”.

Agenda map with Iris notes

Agenda item	What matters	Suggested stance
1. Minutes & decision register	Prior minutes record NMG service issues, savings-pot discrepancy, portal/benefit statement decision.	Do not let action items disappear — ask for closure evidence.
2. Investments	R444.4m total assets. Q1 weak for Aggressive/Moderate; Conservative positive. Moderate lags benchmark/PSGW FoF in several periods.	Ask for plain-English attribution and whether any strategic change is proposed.
3. Annual Fund review	574 attendees, good reach. But feedback shows trust, language, literacy and contribution-understanding gaps.	Turn this into a member education plan with ownership and dates.
4. Admin	Claims backlog, contribution timing, two-pot claims, management accounts, NMG update.	Insist on SLA and backlog trend reporting, not just narrative assurances.
5. General	COFI, wellness day, management fees, NMG portal/benefit statements, next meeting 18 Aug 2026.	Separate regulatory readiness and fee decisions from general updates.

Investment snapshot

Portfolio	3m	6m	1y	3y	5y
Aggressive	-3.02%	0.67%	16.57%	13.12%	11.05%
Moderate	-3.00%	0.11%	13.42%	12.70%	10.76%
Conservative	4.95%	9.43%	16.14%	11.59%	9.77%

Returns are money-weighted and net of all fees per Alexander Forbes / pack text. Aggressive = Ninety One 35% + Coronation 35% + Performer 30%; Moderate = Conserver 50% + Coronation 50%; Conservative = Full Vest 100%.

Asset allocation / values

Manager / fund	Value	Approx share
Coronation	R176.16m	39.6%
Conserver	R101.28m	22.8%
Ninety One	R78.93m	17.8%
Performer	R68.79m	15.5%
Full Vest	R19.23m	4.3%

Administration snapshot

Opening membership 2,328; 98 new members; 37 exits; closing membership 2,389.
Claims carried forward: 64 total — 60 withdrawals, 2 retirements, 2 deaths.
Withdrawals outstanding reasons include 40 finalised after period, 7 awaiting tax directive, 2 tax declined, 2 outstanding docs, 5 future claims.
Contributions were received and invested, but reconciliation / investment finalisation dates should be checked against SLA discipline.
Management accounts: net assets R441.14m; member credits R434.26m; difference 1.58%.

Two-Pot analysis

Inception to 11 May 2026: 496 withdrawals; R4.642m withdrawn.
331 members withdrew; 40% submitted multiple withdrawals; 30% second time, 10% third time.
69% WhatsApp, 24% manual, 7% website. 479 withdrawals paid in 15 days or less.
Average days to pay: 3.4 days in the inception analysis; Q1 admin report says 1 day average and max 12.5 days.
33% of gross withdrawal value was deducted as tax/IT88; 3% included IT88 deductions.

Annual review / member education — the human issue

The annual review sessions reached 574 employees, which is a good outcome. The important issue is not attendance; it is confidence and comprehension.

Technical team questions included fund performance concerns, comparisons with personal RAs, bonus top-ups, life-stage switching, tax deductibility, retirement options, and provider roles.
A concerning trend was recorded: many technicians have reduced pension contributions to the minimum to invest outside the company fund.
Facilities session exposed language barriers, technical terminology and low awareness of contribution percentages / beneficiary nominations.
Recommendation: ask for a practical, multilingual education programme and a simple quarterly member communication with examples, not theory.

COFI readiness note

COFI is expected to introduce broad conduct, governance, reporting and licensing obligations. For the fund/administrator/adviser ecosystem, the committee should ask PSG/NMG to translate this from “regulatory update” into a readiness tracker.

Map affected activities, services and products.
Review governance, fit-and-proper, TCF, reporting, operational capability, transformation and technology/process readiness.
Agree who reports progress and how often.

Source pack

Email: Francesca Kilfoil <Francesca.Kilfoil@psg.co.za>, subject “Safair Retirement Fund - Agenda Pack”, received 2026-05-28 13:46:52Z. Attachment: Safair Agenda Pack 3 June 2026.zip.

Agenda 3 June 2026.pdf
1.1 Safair Minutes 17 February 2026.pdf; 1.2 Safair decisions 17 February 2026.pdf
2.1–2.10 investment/asset/returns/fund fact-sheet PDFs
3.2 Annual Fund review.pdf
4.1 Admin Report; 4.1.1 Two-Pot; 4.1.2 NMG update; 4.2 Management accounts
5.1 COFI Bill — Webber Wentzel