Debswana Pension Fund breaches P6bn mark

Isaac Pinielo | Tuesday October 27, 2015 13:04

DPF is the largest pension fund in the outside the public officers pension fund.

In a presentation at the 2014-year end review at the 2015 Pensioners Conference, it was revealed that total fund value as at December 31, 2014 was P5.7 billion, which was an increase from P4.97 billion from the same period in 2013.

Established in October 1984 under a trust deed, DPF pensioner membership has also grown by 157, which is five percent in the eight months since year-end.

Membership as at December 2014 was 11,589 consisting of; 5,755 active members, 2,439 deferred and 3,395 pensioners. As at August 2015, membership was 11,760 with 5,752 active, 2,456 deferred and 3,552 pensioners. According to the fund’s principal executive officer, Gosego January the year 2014 was a stable year for the fund.

“We did not experience any major setbacks administratively and the majority of our scheduled activities were timeously executed,” she said.

She noted that 2014 was important in laying the groundwork for envisaged strategic changes.

She stated that it was an exciting opportunity for the leadership team to be involved in the formative and critical task of developing a road map for re-building DPF as a new high performance organisation.

“And through the visionary support of our various business partners and stakeholders, we achieved our objectives.

I am therefore highly optimistic that the work that we have done in 2014 will in the immediate to medium term further manifest into an efficient operation and a satisfied membership,” said January.

She said some of the key 2014 activities included reviewing and re-aligning internal processes, reviewing the organisation's structure in terms of skills and competencies and setting up the groundwork for Project Anchor.

She stated that the strategy review sought to assess the appropriateness of the fund’s operational strategy relative to its size and value, and propose alternatives where appropriate.

It also sought to assess current operating model against leading practice, relevant benchmark and key insights to develop interventions to reduce the future cost base as well as review existing organisational structure and provide insights where improvements can be made.

It was meant to review current cost structure in comparison to leading practice and benchmarks highlighting areas for improvement.