Managing retirement fund affairs with a
wide range of skills, knowledge and experience.

“EVERY MOUNTAIN TOP IS WITHIN REACH IF YOU JUST KEEP CLIMBING”
Barry Finlay
Independent Trustee Services (“ITS”) is an authorised financial services provider which specialises in Employee Benefits. ITS’s specific focus is providing benefit consulting services to retirement funds, employers, management committees, trustees, principal officers and participating employers.
ITS believes that our Independence from other service providers (such as administrators, actuaries, asset managers, insurers and auditors) is vital to the effective delivery of benefit consulting services.  Our independence allows us to provide objective advice without any bias towards a particular service provider.

ITS started in early 2007 but has existed since 2004, albeit it as a different legal entity.  ITS’s consulting team is one the most experienced in South Africa, with a verifiable track record of competence.   ITS is independent, objective and experienced in providing the employee benefits services.  For this reason we believe we are ideally placed to support clients with their employee benefits requirements.

Our Services

Independent Consulting

Our services include benefit, investment and legal consulting services. At ITS we provide our clients with independent advice on several aspects, ranging from the choice of a retirement fund administrator, umbrella and standalone funds, appropriate investments and investment managers, governance, benefit structure, benefit distribution, responses to the adjudicator, legal questions related to retirement funds and many other.  ITS have more than 50 years of joint experience in providing these services ranging from funds with a membership of less than 20 to tens of thousands. We maintain a thorough investment consulting model and sophisticated techniques which assist in making informed decisions about retirement funding investments.

Independent Trustee Services

The appointment of an independent trustee with the necessary skills and experience will add immense value to the functioning of any retirement fund or medical aid fund. An independent trustee is entirely independent of any of the other stakeholders in the fund. The significance of this is that this person only has the fund to account to and will serve in the best interest of the fund. ITS provides an independent trustee service to these classes of funds. The appointment of an independent trustee will offer a vast amount of experience and general employee benefits knowledge to the fund and will have the advantage of a strong support team that is available to the fund.

Independent Principal Officer Services

Principal Officers currently have to be skilled and appropriately qualified to provide services to funds.  ITS employs two Chartered Executive Principal Officers.  Other ITS employees are currently completing their apprenticeship to be able to provide the service to our clients going forward.  There has in the past been a lack of management of retirement funds, ignorance of the law (and duties), dependence on service providers, non-compliance, and apathy.   The Principal Officer plays a pivotal role in ensuring the compliance of the fund with the Pension Funds Act and the relevant regulations. This is done by adhering to the fund’s strategy, managing or executing the Board’s decisions, and ensuring that statutory and governance matters are up to date.  The Principal Officers task is thus to run the business of the fund and to implement the policies and strategies adopted by the Board.

Independent Compliance Monitoring

In the past, many retirement funds adopted the minimum standards approach to governance. This has changed and many funds now appreciate the benefits of good governance and regularly consider their compliance and how they can improve on this. ITS offers a service whereby we review all the fund documents, statutory requirements and do a detailed analysis as to how the fund’s compliance can be improved to comply with current legislation. The compliance investigation will depend on the needs of the fund/client but will include inter alia an in-depth investigation into the rules of the fund, the service level agreements and disclosures provided by service providers, fund procedures, inspection of fund data and financial management.

Independent Trustee Training

Boards of trustees have incredible responsibilities yet sometimes lack the knowledge and expertise required to fulfil their obligations. Independent Trustee Services offers independent training to Boards of Trustees and Management Committees structured according to client needs or standardised according to market norms. Training concentrates on Retirement Funds and Trustees, covering the structure of a retirement fund, different fund types, industry role-players, benefits payable and trustees’ duties and responsibilities. Training can also be provided on various topics, for example:  on fund documents, benefit structures, legal matters, death benefit distribution, fund regulation, meetings, financial statements, investments and governance.  The length of training depends on the subjects required to be covered and the time available. Training needs will be determined in consultation with the fund.

Our Services

Independent Consulting

Independent Trustee Services

Independent Principal Officer Services

Independent Compliance Monitoring

Independent Trustee Training

Our Team

ITS prides itself on the level of expertise and experience employed within the company.  Our team is highly qualified in fields ranging from pension law and retirement fund investments to retirement fund administration. We adhere to a code of conduct that ensures independence, quality service, responsibility and continuous education.

We adhere to a code of conduct that ensures independence, quality service, responsibility and continuous education.

Our Insights

Various Authors
04
October
2022
Pension Lawyers Association of South Africa
News
Henry Dul
11
April
2022
A Practical Guide for the Pension Fund Trustee
News
Liz Randles
11
July
2022
Employee Benefits - Focus on Women
Financial
Wiehan Dul
12
July
2022
Market Note October 2021
News
SARS
28
July
2022
Tax On Retirement Funds
Financial
Author Author
15
September
2022
Allowable Deductions