About "EBS Africa”
EBS Africa is a registered Section13(B) retirement fund administrator established exclusively to perform independent, transparent, efficient, flexible and robust administration services to the South African and African market. EBS Africa’s administration services extend to freestanding and umbrella funds and include its own registered Cornerstone Umbrella Funds. EBS Africa was established as the logical extension into administration spawned by the huge success of its fellow subsidiary and technology provider Global ASP Limited. Global ASP has enjoyed great success in the provision of world class and robust administration platforms and consulting services to the retirement fund industry in South Africa for in excess of fifteen years (refer www.globalasp.com for further details)
EBS International
Both EBS Africa and Global ASP are subsidiaries of EBS International.
EBS International, through its various subsidiaries, provides Hosted Administration Platforms, 13(B)Administration Services, Technology Services, Consulting Services, Disaster Recover/Business Continuity Services and Business Analytics to the South African and International market. EBS International is 25% controlled by African Rainbow Capital (ARC), a black owned and controlled investment company focusing on businesses that deliver exceptional returns on equity in the South African and African financial services industry. ARC’s vision is to make a difference in the lives of ordinary South Africans by being the premier black-owned and controlled financial services entity in South Africa. EBS International’s culture of uncompromising integrity and service excellence, sets the Group apart.
Independence and Transparency
EBS Africa provides a low cost and truly independent retirement fund administration service to the market. The Retirement Fund Industry in South Africa is notorious for inefficient, costly and opaque administration. The complexity of group structures and/or the relationships that providers have within their corporate group structures often result in an overlay of costs that make it very difficult to understand exactly what expenses are being charged against the fund and its assets. To further complicate matters many providers are not transparent in their reporting of costs meaning that these costs are not even visible to the employer and members.
In its provisioning of administration services to retirement funds EBS Africa operates completely independently of Asset Managers and Insurers. This independence mitigates the above risks in a number of ways:
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EBS Africa charges only an administration fee and does not receive any other fees, rebates, commissions etc.
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EBS Africa reports on all fund costs separately and transparently to members.
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EBS Africa demonstrates complete independence when called on to provide competitive and independent quotes for retirement funds for the rendering of Insurance and Asset Management services. EBS Africa thus only performs the administration functions around these core elements of a retirement fund.
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Even in our Umbrella Funds this principal will hold true, and participating employers may choose their risk (if any) and investment providers, as long at the providers comply with the funds governance requirements and investment policy statement.
Assurance
EBS Africa removes the risk of poor administration from the fund to themselves. By contracting to service levels and providing ongoing objective measurement of its achievement against these the fund Trustees can effectively and actively monitor EBS Africa’s service provisioning and in so doing mitigate any supplier risk.
Technology
EBS Africa makes use of Global ASP’s PROVEN retirement fund administration technology platform. This modern integrated platform is devoid of legacy hangovers.
This platform has been used over the last 15 years to successfully administer some of South Africa’s largest Retirement Funds representing over 450 000 members and pensioners and more than R200billion in assets. The Global ASP platform is the proven industry leader in the provision of retirement fund administration technology solutions to complex environments where service delivery is an absolute prerequisite. Global ASP’s core administration solution is the leading fund administration platform internationally.
The retirement fund system is accredited in terms of ISO 27001 (Change Management) ISO 9001(security controls) and ISAE3402 (system controls).
People and Process
EBS Africa brings with it a wealth of administration expertise in the area of retirement fund administration ranging from administration best practice, legal and technical knowledge and member fund administration best practices. All EBS Africa’s administration services are underpinned by processes designed by highly experienced, senior management to most optimally leverage technology for the current market requirements. This gives rise to efficient and effective processing which removes subjectivity from the administration process and completely reduces the risk of processing and capture errors
Scope
EBS Africa’s administration platform has the scope and flexibility to accommodate any form of investment fund structure including, but not limited to, the following:
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Pension
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Provident
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Defined Benefit
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Defined Contribution
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Housing Loans
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Annuity Payments
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Unclaimed Benefits Administration
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Member Level Choice
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Trustee Choice
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Daily Pricing
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Monthly Pricing
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Multi-Currency
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Multiple Fee Base Calculation Options
In addition the platform incorporates the following :
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Integrated General Ledger
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Portfolio Pricing
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Retirement Fund Analytics
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Web Interface
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Trading System
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Security Module
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Tax Interface
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Document Store
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Workflow Enablement
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Flexible Reporting Suite
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Payroll integration
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Mobile Reporting and,
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Remote Member Servicing
EBS Africa can thus cater for either a fund’s current structure or, where desired, assist in accommodating any desired changes to the fund rules and structure.