To comply with Financial Institutions and Markets Act (FIMA) regulations, Retirement Fund Solutions (RFS) has officially changed its name to RFS Fund Administrators (Pty) Ltd.
Marthinuz Fabianus, Managing Director of RFS Fund Administrators, highlighted some of RFS’s milestones in a media statement.
He stated that RFS established the Benchmark Retirement Fund in January 2000 and that NAMFISA, the regulator of pension funds, was established out of a directorate in the Ministry of Finance during RFS’s tenure. He also stated that the industry has seen a lot of consolidation, with new entrants struggling to survive and mergers and takeovers among competing industry service providers.
Insurance companies were once the dominant service providers to pension funds, but that is no longer the case.
“Over the last 23 years, pension fund structures have undergone significant changes, with the rise of more individual member-focused options, as opposed to group-focused needs. Over the last 10 years, there has been an unprecedented increase in regulatory reporting, requirements, and oversight. Recently, the industry has seen a move of stand-alone pension funds into umbrella fund arrangements in order to reduce costs and meet regulatory demands,” Fabianus outlined.
Fabianus went on to say that RFS has benefited greatly from Namibian business solidarity, and that the company has received the most support from the Namibian SOE sector, followed by the banking sector.
“Since the implementation of RFS, we have seen an increase in the demand for member choice investment portfolios by pension funds, which has significantly increased the complexity of pension fund administration. We have been a change-resistant Namibian success story with a clearly articulated business philosophy and values like autonomy, integrity, stability, empowerment, long-term growth, focus, kept promises, and customer service excellence,” he said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency