Retirement funds in South Africa have a particular mandate to invest for long-term sustainability. Regulations impose duties on the trustees of retirement funds to invest responsibly. The integrated report, prepared in accordance with the Integrated Reporting Framework, is well placed for retirement funds to explain their long-term process through which value is created to their members/ beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
Retirement funds that have prepared integrated reports, have cited the following benefits:
- It’s a great way to tell what long-term value is being created.
- Trust has increased among our stakeholders.
- The Framework has helped us respond to changing regulations.
- For credibility, we thought we must prepare our own integrated report if we require investee companies to prepare theirs. Undertaking our own process has been very helpful in understanding their process and the extent of integrated thinking.
- It helped us join the dots and ‘straighten up’ our investment strategy.
- As a business tool it has helped embed integrated thinking in the fund and in its investment philosophy.
- Integrated reporting stitched everything together for us; it brought together all the sustainability and other frameworks we apply.
- It has helped us in our strategic planning.
- The benefits for our investment team include: Better due diligence on investee companies after having ESG factors integrated into the investment process; helped the investment team better understand who the fund’s stakeholders are and their interests.
- The Framework just makes sense.
- It helped us respond more effectively to things like the COVID-19 crisis as we had already embedded integrated thinking in our investment philosophy.
- IR is a journey – just get started!
IR Guidance
Please see the IR Guidance and Getting Started pages on this website.
King V Guidance Note, October 2025, King V – Application to Retirement Funds
The King V Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa 2025 states that, while voluntary, the Code provides a framework that can enhance trust in the retirement fund system, improve decision-making and align trustee conduct with the legitimate expectations of members, beneficiaries and other stakeholders. The King V Guidance Note for retirement funds provides a detailed interpretation of the Code as it applies to funds, outlining key nuances, points of emphasis and legislative considerations that may affect the practical implementation of each King V principle. King V states that, in addition, to the relevant legislation and King V, CRISA 21 is a voluntary code applicable to institutional investors, the definition of which includes retirement funds. CRISA 2 and King V are complementary codes that reinforce and complement each other. Further, it states that other industry codes and guidance, such as the Financial Services Board Circular PF130 should be considered in conjunction with the Guidance Note.
Batseta, the Council of Retirement Funds for South Africa, focuses on the interests of principal officers, trustees and fund fiduciaries within the retirement industry in South Africa. Batseta is an organisational member of the IRC of South Africa. https://www.batseta.org.za
Some international and SA examples of Retirement Funds’ integrated reports
Cbus is one of Australia’s largest pension funds and is widely regarded for its integrated reports and integrated thinking having prepared reports for many years. It was one of the first organizations in the world to have its integrated report assured. Click here to access the Cbus Annual Integrated Reports.
Regulations and Codes
FSB Circular PF 130 – Good Governance of Pension Funds Principle 7 and Principle 8 of Circular PF 130, issued by the Financial Services Board (FSB) in June 2007, outlines the responsibility of trustees to ensure that “the benefits [of pension investments] are optimised and the associated investment risks are minimised, with these opposing concepts being appropriately balanced against each other.
Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act – Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act 24/1956 in South Africa, effective July 2011, has prudential guidelines and includes specific reference to ESG integration. It puts the onus on trustees to include ESG factors in determining the material factors that could affect an investment. Retirement funds must explain how they have integrated ESG considerations in their investment policies and disclosures, or why they have chosen not to do so.
FSCA Guidance Note – In 2019, the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA, previously called the FSB) issued a guidance notice (accompanied by a communication) to provide guidance to boards of retirement funds on how to comply with aspects of Regulation 28, in particular how its investment policy statement seeks to ensure the sustainability of its investments and assets, as well as expectations regarding disclosure and reporting on issues of sustainability.
Sustainable Returns for Pensions and Society – The Sustainable Returns for Pensions and Society project was a collaborative retirement industry response to the revised Regulation 28. It set out to provide a consistent framework and set of tools for retirement funds to comply with the new regulation as well as the CRISA Code. In 2013 it released the “Responsible Investment and Ownership – A Guide for Pension Funds in South Africa”.
Useful Publications
- This article addressed the Relationship between CRISA, Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act and Integrated Reporting
This publication from Deloitte links the regulations to integrated reporting. Although this article was published in the early years of both Regulation 28 and CRISA the principles and intended practices remain unchanged. - Tomorrow’s Value Achieving long-term financial returns: a guide for pension fund trustees This guide looks at the new view of value and the fiduciary duty of trustees.
- The A4S website offers an ESG toolkit and Maturity Index for pension fund chairs and trustees. Click here to view.