Alexforbes releases policy aimed at accelerating transformation

ALEXFORBES Investments, South Africa’s largest pension funds administrator with R400 billion of assets under management, yesterday released a transformation policy that it believes will help to accelerate the too-slow transformation of the asset management industry.

“As the largest multimanager in South Africa, we are uniquely positioned to make a real impact when it comes to driving transformation across the local asset management industry.

“As part of this responsibility, we aim to stimulate growth and development of black asset managers and support up-and-coming black asset managers to foster a more inclusive and competitive asset management industry,” chief executive Anne Leepile said in a presentation yesterday.

A survey of the industry in South Africa by the group showed that the industry was too concentrated, with the top 10 asset managers in it accounting for up to 79 percent of total assets.

The survey showed that smaller, especially black-owned, asset managers have struggled to accumulate assets in the past 10 years, and that black people remain under-represented in most corporate positions.

Women also struggle to make it to the higher echelons of these firms.

The survey also showed that although black economic interest had improved, black-owned asset managers manage a low quantum of assets.

“Considerable work still needs to be done to transform the local asset management industry,” said Alexforbes chief investment officer Gyongyi King.

Leepile said Alexforbes started its own transformation journey many years ago and it is a Level 1 B-BBEE contributor, but it believed transformation went beyond tick-boxing regulatory requirements and had developed policies to help increase the pace of change of diversity, inclusion and transformation, and to make the broader investment industry more representative.

Lebo Thubisi, head of manager of research at Alexforbes, said “more than enough studies” had shown increased diversity and transformation added to turnover and performance.

He said their policies focused particularly on the investment management industry and would come into effect from June 1, and existing and possible future clients would need to show that they were either meeting the targets in the policies, or at least present a programme detailing how they would meet the targets over three years.

The policy recognised the need to significantly increase the pipeline of black, and specifically black women, investment management firms and professionals in the country.