South African Reserve Bank Retirement Fund Administration System (REFAS) Manual This guide describes options available to a member of the South African Reserve Bank Retirement Fund (the fund) on retirement. Note: The following fund guides are also available: Contributing members guide (applicable to employees of the South African Reserve Bank) Contributing members guide (applicable to employees of the South African Bank Note Company) Contributing members guide (applicable to employees of the South African Mint Company) Housing assistance scheme guide Investment guide South African Reserve Bank
01 Introduction The Retirement Fund Administration System (REFAS) System is an in-house developed application for the Pension Administration Section of the Financial Services Department. It is used to administer retirement funds for South African Reserve Bank (SARB) employees, pensioners (living annuities) and exemployees (deferred members and deferred retirees) that opted to leave their retirement funds under the administration of the SARB Retirement Fund. 02 Purpose The purpose of this user manual is to equip members of the SARB Retirement Fund on how to use the functions that are available on REFAS. The user manual will serves as a handy reference in cases of uncertainty. 03 Objectives The objective of this user manual is to ensure that the SARB Retirement Fund members are able to do the following tasks on the system: Maintain their portfolios Capture their portfolio switch Perform their pension projection Home loan repayment calculator View their Benefit Statement, Portfolio Statement and their Loan statement View the performance of different portfolios Track the progress on their captured requests 04 Exclusions The manual only covers the section of the system that will be used by the SARB Employees. It does not include the part of the system that will be used by the Administrator and the REFAS users. 2
Assumptions 05 The SARB Retirement Fund member should be able to use a personal computer, mouse and key board, meaning they should have basic previous experience with a computer. Functions 06 6.1 Log In Access to Refas Step 1: Go to SARBHub and click on the drop-down arrow that says Quick:Links and select Refas. Step 2: Click on the Login Link to log in to the REFAS system 3
Step 3: Click on Log In the login screen will be displayed, enter your Username and your network password then click on the Log In icon. 6.2 My Change Request This link will be utilised if the user wants to change their monthly contribution ratios or perform a portfolio switch. What is a monthly contribution This is the monthly employee and employer contribution deducted from your salary. What is a portfolio switch It is the transferring of your funds from one portfolio to another. 6.2.1 Maintain Member Portfolio (Not for Life Stage Model (LSM) members) LSM members are those members who are not performing their own investment choices and therefore, the monthly contributions are invested according to the LSM mandate. This function allows the user to change the monthly contribution ratios of the portfolios already assigned to them. To change the ratios follow the steps below 4
S tep 1: Click on the My Change request tab and then the Maintain Member portfolio sub-tab Step 2: Click on the Ok button. 5
Step 3: Click on the portfolio ratio cell you want to change. Step 4: Enter the new ratio and press the Enter key on your keyboard 6
NB: Your total portfolio ratio has to add up to 100 6.2.2 Portfolio Switch (Refer Regulation 28, SARBHub/Staff matters/ Retirement Fund/Regulations) This function allows the user to move funds from one portfolio to another. To perform a portfolio switch follow the steps below. Step 1: Click on the My Change request tab and then the Portfolio Switch sub-tab Step 2: Click on the OK button 7
Step 3: Select the portfolio you want to move funds from. Step 4: Select portfolio you want to move funds to. 8
Step 5: Enter the amount to be moved and then press Add Amount. Step 6: Click on the Save button 6.3 Pending Request This function allows the user to track the status of a request they have already sent through to the REFAS system. The user will see if their request is already authorised or still pending authorisation. 9
Step 1: Click on My pending requests tab 6.4 Projections/ Calculators This link will be utilised if the user wants to calculate their pension projection or calculate their home loan repayment. 6.4.1 Pension Projections This function allows the user to view their projected pension amounts as at their date of retirement. The member can view their projection on the 3.25% or 4.5% discount rate option. The 3.25 % option is the category of pensioners that purchase pensions at a discount rate of 3.25% where future adjustments are targeted to be within the range of 90% to 110% of Headline Inflation ( CPI ). The 4.50% option is the category of pensioners that purchase pensions at a discount rate of 4.50% where future adjustments are targeted to be within the range of 65% to 85% of the Headline Inflation ( CPI ). 10
Step 1: Click on Projections/ calculators tab and then the Pension projection sub-tab Step 2: Enter spouse date of birth (NB: This will be left empty if the employee has no spouse) 11
Step 3: Click on Calculate Projected Pension and Projections and the projection will be displayed. Step 4: Enter the desired commutation (limited to one third of your share) in the Custom commutation field and click on recalculate the pension will be displayed after the desired commutation. 12
Step 5: In the Factors At drop-down arrow select the 4.5% discount rate to view the pension options for this discount rate. 6.4.2 Home loan repayment calculator Step 1: Click on Projections/ calculators tab and then the Home loan repayment calculator sub-tab 13
Step 2: Enter the loan amount to a maximum of 1/3 of your share in the Fund and the period (in years) which is required. Step 3: Enter the period (in years). This is the period over which you wish to repay the loan (Maximum 30 years). The repayment will be calculated and displayed. 14
NB: Employees should aim to repay their loan before retirement date. Any outstanding balance of the housing loan becomes fully payable upon retirement and the balance will reduce the one third commutation allowed at retirement 6.5 Statements This function allows the user to view their statements (Benefit Statement, Portfolio Statement and the Loan Statement) Step 1: Click on the My Statement tab Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: Click on the Benefit Statement sub-tab to view your benefit statement, the statement will be displayed. Click on the Portfolio Statement sub-tab to view your portfolio statement; enter the dates you want displayed. The statement will be displayed. Click on the Loan Statement sub-tab to view your loan statement; enter the dates you want displayed. The statement will be displayed. 6.6 Portfolio Performance This function allows the user to view the performance of the different portfolios. When a portfolio is selected a graph is displayed to depict the performance of the portfolio/s. The user can select more than one portfolio and see the different graphs. 15
Step 1: Click on the Portfolio Performance tab Step 2: Tick the portfolio/s whose performance you want to view 6.7 About Refas This tab provides the user with information about REFAS and also the contact details of the relevant people to contact in case of uncertainty. The user manual is accessed from this page. This page can accessed without login onto REFAS. 16
Step 1: Click on the About REFAS tab End 17