Treasury unveils plan to reunite South Africans with R88bn in unclaimed assets

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana has set out National Treasury's proposals for tackling South Africa's R88 billion stockpile of unclaimed retirement and pension assets, citing the absence of a consistent legislative framework for defining and tracing such funds across the financial sector.

Unclaimed assets – money owed to a fund member, former member or beneficiary that has never been paid out – typically arise when a retirement or pension fund is unable to trace someone after a change of contact details or employer, or where a beneficiary does not realise money is owed to them.

According to Newsday, Godongwana said inconsistent tracing standards meant financial institutions took differing approaches to identifying and reuniting owners with unclaimed funds.

Treasury's proposal envisages a standard definition of unclaimed assets across the sector, consistent tracing and reunification requirements, and the transfer of unclaimed assets to a central administrator empowered to draw on broader data sources, including government databases, to trace owners.

Assets transferred to the administrator would be invested through the Corporation for Public Deposits, a wholly owned subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank, while remaining available for payment to verified owners once traced. Godongwana described the objective as increasing the number of owners and beneficiaries reunited with their assets.

Where assets have remained unclaimed for decades despite exhaustive tracing efforts, Treasury said consideration may be given to a statutory cut-off period for claims, on the basis that some assets eventually become effectively untraceable. Godongwana cautioned that the proposal remains subject to further consultation and legislative processes.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority operates a central database, accessible via its website, allowing members of South African retirement funds – dating back as far as 1981 – to check whether they are owed an unclaimed benefit, using their name, identification number, fund name and employer name.