Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF) appoints Maitland

EPPF is one of the largest defined benefit pension funds in South Africa. It manages more than R96bn on behalf of approximately 88 000 members, pensioners and beneficiaries. A portion of EPPF’s assets are managed in-house, but it also employs a number of external fund managers.

The appointment of Maitland introduces changes to the EPPF’s asset administration and it will enable EPPF to improve efficiencies.

Through its master accounting solution Maitland has assisted in consolidating EPPF’s valuation, accounting, and reporting processes. It has also made daily reconciliations between EPPF and its custodians significantly more efficient.

EPPF CEO Sbu Luthuli said: "We are focused on providing maximum returns for our members and therefore, efficiency is an important enabler. In Maitland, we have found a partner that truly understands this, which puts us in the strongest possible position to deliver the best returns with greater efficiency.”

While multi-manager structures help pension funds to secure the returns for members, a lack of standardisation between ‘sub funds’ on administrative processes such as reporting and accounting, poses a challenge to pension funds. Through Maitland’s solution, funds can take advantage of all the benefits of the multi-manager approach without the huge administrative burden.

"Accurate and consistent daily pricing and unitisation are some of the key challenges faced by pension funds across the globe. Some market solutions simply do not pass the transparency, member protection and cost reductions tests that regulators and trustees have set for the benefit of pension fund members. However, Maitland can provide the answer to this and the ideal solution for the administration and accounting of complex asset portfolios typical in the multi-managed pension fund environment” said Andre le Roux, Head of Business Development at Maitland.

Following a rigorous selection process, Maitland was appointed to partner with EPPF in providing an investment administration and accounting services solution in June 2013. The project took just short of 12 weeks to complete, a record time for a project of this complexity.