South Africa is often seen as a high-beta play, be it regarding financial market risk aversion, or political uncertainty and corruption. In this month’s issue, Carmen Nel of Matrix Fund Managers, writes that a tough time lies ahead as policy makers try to convince investors that South Africa must remain exceptional (pp. 16-17).

In South Africa, retirement fund assets represent the largest source of invested assets in the country by a significant margin. Read on p.14 why SA pension funds can be a significant catalyst for impact investing in the country.

In addition, this year’s Sanlam Benchmark Survey, an annual body of research into the state of retirement funds and retirees in South Africa, revealed an increased focus on ESG. Darryl Moodley of Sanlam said has seen that retirement fund decision-makers are developing their knowledge around ESG, and are beginning to actively engage their advisers, asset managers and investee companies (p 22).

In this edition, Rehma Imrith, Commercial Director, IQ-EQ, shares her thoughts on security trustees and how they can protect investor rights in corporate debt restructuring (See p.15).

On the fundraising front, AfricInvest has announced the final close of its AfricInvest Fund IV with total commitments of $411m. The fund received investment from new and returning institutional investors, development finance institutions and family offices from around the world (p.4).