Saturnia chairperson forced to resign

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 07:45:22 +0000

…for demanding accountability and good corporate governance

By NATION REPORTER

THE chairperson of the Saturnia Regna Pension Fund Ms. Doreen Kabunda was hounded out of her position by the cabal that has captured the multi-employer pension scheme with the full knowledge of the Pension and Insurance Authority because she demanded accountability and good corporate governance.

Correspondence availed to the Daily Nation indicates that Ms. Kabunda was forced to resign after she wrote to all participating employers informing them that the Trustees were reviewing the performance of the fund and were taking actions to improve the governance structures.

“The state of affairs where we have an administrator, fund manager and property manager all being related parties under one umbrella is not in line with best practice,

“This structure continues to pose challenges in terms of providing checks and balances, oversight and performance accountability,” the letter dated October 3, 2016 states.

According to the letter which was in response to an illegal direct communication from the fund manager Benefits Consulting Services Limited to the participating employers, the Board of Trustees had undertaken the following actions:

• Constituted active board subcommittees – the Audit, Risk and Compliance committee and the Investment Committee.
• Appointed an independent Investment Consultant to review the strategic asset allocation and review the performance of the Fund Manager.
• Consulted an independent Legal Adviser separate from the advisers of the Fund Manager and Fund Administrator.

The Trustees, she said, were also exploring custo-dial arrangements “because of an unfortunate incident where the Fund Manager decided to use approximately K2m of our pension funds to settle a significant legal judgment made against the Fund Manager suffice to say we insisted they pay the money back.”

Ms. Kabunda also raised the issue of an allegation made by former BP Zambia Plc employees of a private limited company bearing a similar name and address as Saturnia Regna Pension Trust Fund not controlled by the Trustees and to which some assets of the Fund had apparently been transferred.

“Trustees are yet to receive all the information and documents requested to close this enquiry and remain concerned that the conflict of interest appears to have delayed the receipt of a full and frank disclosure of the requested information,” she said.

Ms. Kabunda also informed the participating employers that overall fund costs were too high and that the Trustees had requested the Fund Managers and Fund Administrators to review their fees in line with industry norms.

She said that a basic analysis of the 2013-2014 Pensions and Insurance Authority pensions industry data showed that Saturnia accounts for only 32 per cent of industry net assets but that African Life Investment fees charged to Saturnia were 45 percent of the industry total, Saturnia return on assets for 2014 was lower than industry average and that although Saturnia only accounted for 29 percent of industry membership, its administration fees were 40 percent of the industry total.

Ms. Kabunda also lodged a complaint with the PIA on 11 November 2016 against the Fund Administrators, Benefits Consulting Services Limited and sought the intervention and guidance of the authority.

The letter stated that the administrator had mis-construed their historical role in the set-up of the Saturnia Regna Pension Trust Fund and had on several occasions usurped the role of the Trustees to the extent of undermining their authority.

Benefits Consulting Limited was writing directly to the member organisations regarding the position of the Trustees on the Board without any instructions or resolution of the trustees or any reference to the SRPTF Trust Deed.

“We believe that all this is done under the misconception by Bencon that they hold a fiduciary duty and play an advisory role to the members of the Fund,” Ms. Kabunda said.

The other complaints she had against Benson were failure to provide requested information, spreading falsehood and casting aspersions, actions bordering on incompetence and non-compliance and unsafe and unusual practices.

“We deem as Trustees that we could terminate our Agreement with Bencon. This action would however be precipitate and may put the Fund at risk particularly as the Trustees have not been availed requested fund documents,” Ms. Kabunda said.

“We seek your clarification on Bencon’s role as Administrators and further seek your indulgence on any regulatory sanction that can be applied in this regard.”

To the disbelief of all the Trustees, the PIA instead requested Ms. Kabunda to resign from the Board of Trustees of SRPTF in a letter on 24th January 2017. The letter tabulated Ms. Kabunda’s history on the Board and gave her long service as the reason why she had to leave.

“We have the misfortune of advising that given the observations relating to your tenure as Trustee and the unfortunate prevailing circumstances in the scheme herein, we implore you to exercise your good judgment and immediately relinquish your position as chairperson,” the letter signed by PIA Registrar Martin Libinga said.