As a step towards implementing Fiduciary duty in the 21st century’s recommendations, the South Africa roadmap sets out recommendations in four categories: regulatory guidance, enhanced stewardship, investor education and corporate reporting.

Regulatory guidance

  • The South African Financial Services Board (FSB) should:
    • provide practical guidance to enhance the impact of Regulation 28 on the investment practice of South African pension schemes and actively monitor progress in scheme practice;
    • review the implications of the size and structure of pension schemes on governance quality.
  • The FSB should review investment manager mandates to ensure that they reflect the expectations for investment practice set out in Regulation 28.
  • South African industry associations and the FSB should provide practical guidance to trustees on interaction with investment consultants on ESG integration.

Enhanced stewardship

  • The Code for Responsible Investment in South Africa (CRISA) should be supported with more resourcing and a permanent secretariat to enable its work on stewardship and responsible investment in South Africa.

Investor education

  • ESG issues should be a core competency in the National Qualification Framework for trustee training. Training and accreditation groups and industry organisations, such as Batseta and the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA), should collaborate to provide training and raise market awareness of ESG investment approaches.

Corporate governance and reporting

Wherever possible we propose that ASISA, Batseta, CRISA and the PRI seek to align their work on ESG integration in South Africa to ensure continuing regulatory support, market awareness and momentum.

Produced in collaboration with UNEP FI and Generation Foundation

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