Thereafter, appointment of the liquidator by the Registrar of pension funds can take another couple of months. Prior to a liquidator being appointed, Rosslee explains that it is important for the Trustees to ensure that all the FundsвЂ™ statutory affairs are up to date.

The liquidation process is known to be fraught with procedural danger and red tape - which can unravel at significant cost to members who are at stages of their lives where interruption to benefits is catastrophic.Д«etween August 2015 and May 2016 Francois Rosslee and Arthur Els of ARGEN Actuarial Solutions, were appointed joint liquidators of four troubled umbrella retirement funds Dynam-ique SA Umbrella Pension Fund, Dynam-ique SA Umbrella Provident Fund, IF Umbrella Pension Fund and IF Umbrella Provident Fund.

When a retirement fund, for whatever reason, comes to the end of its useful life, selecting a liquidator who will make the process as painless, swift and fair to all stakeholders as possible is crucial. The extent to which membersвЂ™ benefits grow and are protected depends on the skill and diligence of the retirement fundвЂ™s trustees, and when called to wrap up a retirement fund, the liquidator. The responsibility of dealing with peopleвЂ™s life savings is caught between two critical and often mutually exclusive inputs: reward and risk. Individuals who uphold the honourable virtues that our parents hopefully instilled in us, and who abide by principles of good governance and the secret lies in being able to identify them from the crowd. There are ethical professionals in all of them of course. We think of lawyers, financial advisors, and liquidators - in no particular order of respect or notoriety. Invariably they involve large sums of money and their clientвЂ™s livelihood or reputation rests on two outcomes: win or lose. Has lessons to share with those considering liquidation.Д¬ertain professions attract controversy. Leading actuarial firm winds up troubled retirement funds.

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