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Do you need an offshore manager to manage your offshore investments?

Many South Africans are considering investing offshore, or topping up their offshore investments, mainly because the political risks to the economy, financial markets and the rand are high. Although these may not be the best reasons for investing offshore (see below), many investors have too little exposure to offshore markets and need to diversify their portfolios.

If you are contemplating investing offshore, you may be wondering whether you need to find a foreign manager, or whether a familiar home-grown one will do.

When it comes to performance, South African fund managers do well relative to their foreign competitors, although there are sound arguments for using an offshore manager, such as lower costs and more experience (see “The extra effort of investing offshore directly can pay off for you” on

If you are just beginning to venture into offshore markets, a rand-denominated global equity or global multi-asset fund is a good place to start. You can invest in these funds without converting your rands into a foreign currency, accessing your offshore investment allowance (up to R10 million each year) and obtaining tax clearance.

You can also take comfort from the fact that local managers are proving their worth relative to their foreign counterparts. For example, the top five rand-denominated

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