The asset base of the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF), one of Africa’s largest pension funds has reached P93. 6 billion. The mark was reached as of 31st December 2021 according to the Fund’s Chairman Solomon Mantswe.
Mantswe, who was speaking at the 20th year anniversary of the pension fund said that of the P93.6 billion, pensioner assets were valued at P8.3 billion whilst the balance of P85.3 billion were for active and deferred pensioners. As of 31st December 2021, 66.5 percent of the BPOPF assets were invested offshore whilst 33.5 percent were invested locally.
BPOPF is the largest fund in the country with a membership base of 166 080 comprising 156 612 active and deferred pensioners, around 9 468 pensioners.
In June 2021 BPOPF appointed South African advisory firm NMG Benefits to administrate the fund. Since then, the joint venture company now collects contributions, manage payrolls and maintain records for the fund. The development according to BPOPF came as a result of a change in legislation that governs companies in the retirement and pension industry. The enactment of the new Retirement Fund Act in 2019, under the purview of the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) has forced all the players in the pension and retirement sub-sector to restructure some of their businesses.
In 2020 another key player in the industry – Botswana Life also launched an umbrella Fund known as Retirement Annuity Fund which now houses all the company’s previous existing retirement policies such as Mompati, Offshore Gold and Botswana Citizen Pension amongst others.
