The Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises has given the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) six months to review the Financial Institutions and Markets Act (FIMA) of 2021 and make recommendations.
The objectives of FIMA are to consolidate and harmonise the laws regulating financial institutions, financial intermediaries, and financial markets in Namibia and to provide for incidental matters.
The FIMA implementation was postponed last year following a public outcry specifically relating to the proposed Regulation, RF.R.5.10 on the preservation of retirement benefits, where people resigning, dismissed, or changing jobs, will only be entitled to 25% of their pension payout, and can only access the rest when they attain the age of 55.
It was on such a basis of objections, that Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises Iipumbu Shiimi halted the implementation, and now set up a committee with the mandate to review the current proposed draft regulation on preservation of retirement benefits.
“We do not want to stretch this process for too long because most of the laws are outdated and need to be modernised. Therefore, the six-month [period] is quite reasonable considering the skilled team that will be undertaking the reviews and consultations. However, this is not a cast in a stone timeframe, as it is liable to an extension upon request by the team for genuine reasons,” Shiimi said during the unveiling of the TAC.
In addition, the TAC should facilitate public consultations and deliberate on relevant matters pertaining to the preservation of retirement.
“In addition, the TAC will be responsible to conduct a comparative study of FIMA and benchmark with other Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member states, international standard setting bodies, such as the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS). Including other countries outside SADC in relation to policy and legislation for the purposes of preservation of retirement benefits,” Shiimi said.
The 36-member committee will be led by Dr Manfred Zamuee as chairperson and consists of members from the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises, Bank of Namibia, NAMFISA (Secretariat of the TAC), Retirement Funds Institute of Namibia (RFIN), Trade Union Congress of Namibia (TUCNA), National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), Namibia National Labour Organisation (NANLO), Pension Funds that are not part of the RFIN, and Employers’ Federation.
The TAC may also, separately, provide recommendations on any matter pertaining to Chapter 5 of the FIMA for consideration by the Minister.
