Super market share – is the rise and rise of SMSFs over?

For the past decade, the market share story in super has been predictable, year in year out – SMSFs up, industry funds up, retail funds down, corporate funds down, public funds down slightly. For the first 8 years of that decade (2004-12), market shares (of super system net assets) moved as follows: Segment 2004 market […]

INFOGRAPHIC: 2015 Budget Snapshot

NMG Mercado released[2 March 2015]: SA GDP in the spotlight

South Africa’s GDP grew by 4.1% during the last quarter of 2014, up from 2.1% achieved in the previous quarter. The fourth quarter’s growth was underpinned by gains in mining, manufacturing, finance, real estate and business sectors. Mining grew by 15.2%, whilst manufacturing increased at an annualised rate of 9.5%. The nominal GDP at market […]

Review of Budget speech 2015

Yesterday, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene gave the budget speech for 2015. The speech seemed to shed a gloomy view for the year. The finance minister was tasked with a difficult assignment given the current state of the economy. The key points of the budget are as follows:

Budget Speech: 11 issues that affect the Retirement Fund Industry

1. Resignations due to Retirement Reform and/or indebtedness 2. Twin Peaks 3. TCF 4. Tax-Free Savings Accounts 5. Withdrawal from retirement annuity funds by non-residents 6. A maximum age for the preservation of retirement assets 7.Estate duty and retirement funds 8. Harmonisation and annuitisation 9. Draft regulations on default preservation 10. Mandatory system under consideration […]

Flat insurance commissions: will it improve customer outcomes?

  February 24, 2015 In the wake of FoFA, there is increasing acceptance that there will also be reform of retail life insurance commissions. There is coalescence around a move to flat commissions, despite the lack of common ground between stakeholders. Insurance advisers lack a coherent narrative, while insurers’ views are polarised based on their […]

NMG Mercado is out [23 February 2015]: The budget speech and inflation in the spotlight

South African citizens eagerly await Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s budget speech on Wednesday. The speech is supposed to detail plans regarding government’s fiscal consolidation plans and the possible tax increases. It is expected that government will increase the tax on wealthy citizens, and the fuel tax levy is also expected to increase given the cut […]

Introducing NMG briefs: Stay on top of the latest employee benefits industry news

Quick useful snapshots of employee benefits news NMG Briefs is a new page on the NMG Benefits website where you can find a variety of the newsletters we produce across our divisions. You’ll be able to stay abreast with issues affecting Healthcare, Retirement, Investment and Actuarial industry news. Employers, employees and trustees, will all find […]

How long does product development take?

  11 February, 2015 Ask this question around the wealth and asset management industry, and you’ll find common answers include “forever” and “too bloody long”. Product development usually takes longer than most people expect. But it’s typically not a case of “how long is a piece of string”.  There are solid benchmarks for different types […]

ETFs go vertical

February 4, 2015 While much of the wealth management industry was absorbed by the Financial System Inquiry and other regulation in 2014, ETFs quietly went vertical. You don’t often get to see a classic product “S” curve unfold outside of the technology industry, so watch this one.  An S curve refers to the shape of […]