Does investing for a better South Africa require prescription?
Much is being written about the purported negative effects of prescribed assets on South African retirement funds. The ANC’s 2019 election manifesto hints at the introduction of prescribed assets that is, at its core, a call for allocating assets to impact investment opportunities in South Africa. There is research that highlights the benefits of...
Hedge Funds did better than equities last year – but so what?
edge funds have been getting a bad rap in recent years due to poor performance coupled with high fees. While both 2016 and 2017 were pedestrian years for hedge funds, stronger numbers came through in 2018. The broader South African equity market was down in 2018 by -14% with a volatility of 12%. On average,...
Default regulations come into effect 1 March
RisCura’s head of investment advisory and administration, Petri Greeff, discusses why the new amendments to the Pension Fund Act – default regulations – that come into effect on 1 March 2019 are important for the retirement fund industry. On 1 March 2019, the South African retirement industry takes one step closer to helping fund members...
A generation of unwilling pensioners
A somewhat grey and gloomy reality faces most of us as future-retirees in South Africa. High fees, declining returns, and insufficient contribution and saving rates are frequent topics of discussion. As a generation of baby boomers reaches retirement, there’s another important question that’s been getting more attention globally: What is the right...
2019 changes in IPEV standards
As of January 2019 private capital investments valuations will need to be implemented according to the latest International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines released late last year. With only a month’s notice prior to implementation, the changes will have to be integrated into valuation processes immediately. There have been...
Clean energy – are definitions and the lack of standardised metrics holding back investment?
Whether or not one fully agrees that we only have 12 years to limit a climate change catastrophe, as per the latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there is an undeniable need to clean up our environment. The rising number of hurricanes, floods, droughts and wildfires – vividly covered by...
Investment in Africa
We released our 2018 Bright Africa research in August. Here is a visual illustration of the Investment in Africa section of our research. For more information on Bright Africa, click here....
Africa’s first infrastructure performance index
We are excited to announce that RisCura is partnering with Africa Investor to launch Africa’s first infrastructure performance index. For years one of the constraints for investment into infrastructure has always been the lack of a benchmark, one of the essential elements in the ecosystem of institutional investment. It is for this reason that we...
Is there really such a thing as passive investing – and does it matter?
There is a common misperception that the passive asset manager’s process is entirely algorithm based and requires no skill or decision-making. But, the reality is that passive managers still need to actively make a range of important decisions that will affect the investor’s long-term outcome. These decisions may be different from those made by...
