Snippets from history
Snippets from history (1)
Mmmm …. No comment from Mr Boyd
From FSB’s Russel Michael’s:
“Dear Mike
Compliments of the season (belately). I returned from leave yesterday. I have sent your query to Jurgen Boyd who told me he has no comment. Regards – Russel”
In response to our query over the difference between what Mr Boyd told the Parliamentary Committee of Finance, and a somewhat different picture:“From: Mike Thurtell [mailto:connection@icon.co.za]
Sent: 10 January 2008 10:50 AM
To: Russel Michaels
Subject: Query from E B Monitor[Scanned]
Please ask Mr Boyd what the position is regards bargaining council funds’ benefit structures. As you can see from our article below, the directive seems to contradict statements made to PCOF. [An example is temporary disability benefits – private sector retirement funds may not provide these but bargaining council funds may? If so, why?]
‘[Directive PF No. 1 issued 10 December 2007]
The Registrar of Pension Funds has issued his first-ever directive, a form of instruction introduced in last year’s Pension Funds Amendment Act, 2007, commencing 13 September 2007.
The directive:
· Reminds bargaining council retirement funds that they must be registered under the Pension Funds Act, 1956 by or on 1 January 2008. Funds may apply for an extension to register by 30 April 2008
· States that nothing special is required of bargaining council funds other than that they must comply with all the requirements of the Pension Funds Act, 1956
· Reminds that bargaining councils must apply for approval as investment or/and benefit administrator(s) if not using the services of such external providers.
EBM Comment:
We reviewed the bargaining council-specific issues of the then Pension Funds Amendment Bill, 2007 discussed at the Parliamentary Committee of Finance hearings in issues H185 (30 May 2007) and H185B (4 June 2007) of the Employee Benefits Monitor.
One of the many issues we found confusing was that the FSB had created a separate apartheid-style own affairs dispensation for bargaining council funds which had registered under the Pension Funds Act, 1956. In terms of this dispensation the FSB would allow bargaining council retirement funds to provide benefit structures disallowed by SARS and the FSB to non-bargaining council funds.
This is what Treasury and the FSB had to say in response to submissions concerning benefit structures:
‘To date approximately 165 funds already voluntarily registered under the Act, with some 1,5 million members.
Special circumstances (e.g. housing loans, withdrawal benefits and temporary disability benefits) have already been accommodated under the existing regulatory framework and therefore no special provisions are required.
The only special arrangement to be made in respect of bargaining council funds relates to the statutory valuation date and the following amendment is proposed in this regard (section 2(2)(b)):
insert: “(b) Despite any other provision of this Act, the first statutory actuarial valuation of a fund registered in accordance with paragraph (a) must be undertaken at the end of the first financial year following registration.” (current (2) becomes 2(a)]’
The directive is available in the Resource Centre of www.ebmonitor.co.za: In the category “FSB and Retirement Funds” there is a subcategory “Pension Funds Act, 1956 which provides circulars, directives etc.’
Thanks
Mike Thurtell
The Employee Benefits Monitor”
--------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------
Needless to say …
That we never received a reply, despite several reminders:
“From:
Sent: 18 November 2008 13:26
To: 'Russel Michaels'
Subject: Query from E B Monitor
Hi Russel, we are writing a series of E B Monitors on the legislation passed this year. We have been asked when the FSB will be issuing PF circulars or regulations on unclaimed benefits funds and beneficiary funds. Basically the queries boil down to getting more detail as people are uncertain – as Treasury and the FSB repeatedly told PCOF, “the devil is in the detail.”
Look forward to any info (if there are other circulars etc in the pipeline, it will be good to be aware of these as well.
Regards
----------------------------
Snippets from history (2)
The Employee Benefits Monitor is an attractive product for many people who don't wish to pay for it, or would rather pay for it at a fee lower much much lower than the conferences they attend. Often we have made concessions in good faith. The following are examples which have influenced our subscription policy.
We like your product … but don’t think we’ll pay (1)
“
From: Arrie Thomas [mailto:thomaslc@sabc.co.za]
Sent: 13 November 2007 08:47
To:
Subject: RE: Latest Employee Benefits Monitor update
Hi Mike
I enjoyed the quick reference to articles/issues that interest me in the ‘mini-EBM’ and thus found it very useful.
Regards
Arrie
Arrie Thomas
GM Finance: Corporate Risk and Funds
Phone: (011)714-3440
Fax: (011) 714-3884
e-mail: thomaslc@sabc.co.za
From: First name Last name [mailto:connection@icon.co.za]
Sent: 14 April 2008 12:34 PM
To: thomaslc@sabc.co.za; geraldinee@econometrix.co.za
Cc: geraldinee@econometrix.co.za
Subject: RE: my e mail address not on your database
Please refer to our previous e-mails: There are two invoices outstanding. I have referred you to the lady at SABC who took out the subscription.
----- Original Message ------
From:Arrie Thomas
Sent:Monday, April 14, 2008 12:27
To:EBMonitor.co.za Admin Site connection@icon.co.za; geraldinee@econometrix.co.za;
Cc: geraldinee@econometrix.co.za;
Subject:my e mail address not on your database
Hi
I have requested a new login password as I have forgotten my old one. The system has rejected my request with the notice that my e mail address is not on your database. See previous correspondence attached. Please assist.
Regards
Arrie
Arrie Thomas
GM Finance: Corporate Risk and Funds
Phone: (011)714-3440
Fax: (011) 714-3884
e-mail: thomaslc@sabc.co.za’
-----------------------------------------------
We like your product … but don’t think we’ll pay (2)
From: Henry Dul [mailto:27824555939@vodamail.co.za] Hi Mike
Will pay before month end, sorry about that.
Regards
Independent Trustee Services ----------------------------------------------
We like your product … but don’t think we’ll pay (3)
Then there are those who leave a subscribing company, and think we won't notice when they ask us to note a change in their e-mail address: e.g. Adrian Ramesh, formerly of Aon.
----------------------------------
We like your product … but don’t think we’ll pay (4)
Like Econorisk's Amy Behnken who said they were subscribing, so in good faith we issued usernames and passwords to access our database. They downloaded intellectual property, never settled their invoice, ignored all e-mails and never subscribed.
------------------------------------------------------------
We like your product … but don’t think we’ll pay (5)
An advocate who had access when he was employed at Hollard and had taken one quick look at our database and was not interested. He left Hollard (who did not tell us that he had left, so we did not cancel his access codes).
Lo and behold, he popped up at a parliamentary committee of finance meeting, who was described by the FSB to the committee as the FSB’s “pensions legal expert”.
Further lo and behold, our friend the “pensions legal expert”, who had taken no interest in pensions law, suddenly was very interested in pensions law and the E B Monitor … to the extent of downloading all issues of The E B Monitor published sine 1999.
Well, our friend Jorgen Boyd promised to investigate and needless to say has never got back to us.
As can be expected, we received a flurry of phone calls, faxes and letters offended by our taking exception to the removal of our property.
---------------------------------------------------------
We like your product … but don’t think we’ll pay (6)
And then there are those who would like a free trial period … like actuarial consultancy IAC. All issues of the E B Monitor were download and our objections dismissed as “It’s just a member of our staff.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Snippets from history …. from a different angle
The CEO and Chairperson
Moriting Wealth Managers (Pty) Ltd
2 June 2010
Re: Moriting’s demands about The Employee Benefits Monitor
We refer to the various allegations, demands and threats made by your Elma Bekker, supported by her “executive committee”.
As Moriting makes no supporting reference to Moriting’s contract with Benefit Connection, it is difficult to respond to what comes across as generalisations accompanied by a sense of entitlement, both of which are rather detached from relevant facts. We would caution you against empowering your employees to make loose cannon defamatory remarks and note that we reserve our rights.
We accordingly note the following.
1. Moriting contracted to the Terms and Conditions.
2. 2008:
2.1 The Terms and Conditions provided for, in return for payment of fees, entitlement to view content we provided at www.ebmonitorcoza, to employees of Moriting whose names and email addresses were provided to us. Content included articles, case summaries, an electronic library and our bulletins called The Employee Benefits Monitor. When Moriting subscribed before 2008, we issued usernames and passwords to five such names provided to us by Moriting. Two names were never interested enough to log in; while another two logged in only twice during the whole subscription period. The fifth, Elma Bekker, logged in a maximum of three times each year, including her three log-ins in 2008.
2.2 Vanessa Longhow advised us of her change in e-mail address and after our prompting, provided us with the new format for e-mail addresses for Moriting. E-mail addresses were therefore changed to bryan.shuping@moriting.co.za; elma.bekker@moriting.co.za; Isaac.Manthata@moriting.co.za; Lemmy.Matle@moriting.co.za and louise.vanwyk@moriting.co.za. Any suggestion by Bekker that we are liable for omissions by Moriting not to provide us with correct e-mail addresses is spurious and without merit.
2.3 Our website operated 24/7/365 with no bar on the number of times Moriting was allowed to log in. In all the years of subscribing Moriting never complained about the Terms or Conditions or convenience of the website and log-in procedure. Once issued, the username and password was valid irrespective of the person’s e-mail address. Benefit Connection therefore never breached its obligations and no other client has ever alleged any such contravention.
2.4 To encourage use of our website and interest in our product we regularly e-mailed issues of The Employee Benefits Monitor to subscribers. We published at least 29 issues of The Employee Benefits Monitor, all of which were e-mailed in each case to all our subscribers including Moriting’s old and then new e-mail addresses. No client complained and it has taken more than a year for Moriting to levy its allegations, which to our mind beggars belief.
3. 2009:
3.1 The Terms and Conditions published at www.ebmonitorcoza included a provision for Benefit Connection to change the Terms and Conditions. This is a common website condition. We have used it for example when we hived off news about healthcare to The Health Cover Monitor. No client, including Moriting, has ever objected to our Terms and Conditions.
3.2 Despite not requiring any notification of change, Benefit Connection published a notice at www.ebmonitor.co.za for at least three months asking clients to comment on our intention to change back to not having a content-rich site and rather e-mailing issues of The Employee Benefits Monitor to clients. Nobody objected and the feedback has been positive. The official change-over date was 1 January 2009, although our website continued to operate for a few months thereafter. Elma Bekker logged in on two separate occasions in 2009. Issues of The Employee Benefits Monitor were e-mailed to e-mail addresses provided to us by clients, including Moriting to whom we did not mail after May 2009, due to many years’ of continuing late payment by Moriting. Our Terms and Conditions had been amended to ensure that we were liable only to e-mail the E B Monitor to clients who paid their fees on time. This would enable us and our clients to stop subsidising companies like Moriting.
4. The way forward
4.1 Noting Moriting’s sudden interest in our product, we will e-mail her, to her latest e-mail address provided by her, a selection of 15 of the issues of The Employee Benefits Monitor that we have published over the last twelve months or so. We will revisit invoices issues, which we notice undercharged as for several years they have not reflected current prices which are more than twice the invoices raised.
4.2 Moriting: The subscription excludes employees who perform services as principal officers or trustees. Please confirm that none of the persons noted in 2.2 from Moriting have performed such roles during the period of Moriting’s subscription. It is of course also up to you to pursue the so-called remedial action that Bekker thinks you are entitled to. Alternatively we send you the 15 issues of The Employee Benefits Monitor and we treat the matter as closed and go our separate ways.
Yours faithfully
M Thurtell
Managing member
----------------------------------------------------------
Sent: 19 November 2008 09:31
To:
Subject: Re: Invoice: E B Monitor
Henry Dul
011 0212385
082 899 2744 (cell)
086 613 3809 (fax)
Weltevredenpark
ROODEPOORT
1715
