Africa-Press – Kenya. Corporate Trustees are in a race to comply with the new Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) regulations, ahead of the July 21 deadline.
The requirement stems from Legal Notice No. 103 issued on July 21, 2023, which provided a one-year window for compliance by the entities.
RBA Chief Executive Officer Charles Machira says the new regulations are part of the authority’s broader agenda to ensure Corporate Trustees offer professional services and safeguard members’ interests.
Speaking at an event where Kingsland Court was awarded its Corporate Trustee registration certificate, Machira outlined the authority’s progress since the adoption of trust law in Kenya.
He noted that the number of individual trustees in defined benefit and defined contribution schemes has decreased significantly.
“Good governance guidelines and treating customers fairly are some of the measures we’ve put in place to improve industry relations with members who are paramount to enhance industry confidence and growth,” said Machira.
He pointed out that from the beginning of adoption of trust law in Kenya, individual trustees of the scheme had reduced from 15 to nine in a defined benefit schemes and eight defined contribution schemes.
Kingsland Court Managing Director Simon Nyakundi said governance and risk management of members’ savings were the key focus of the regulator’s risk-based supervision, underlining the importance of ensuring transparency and accountability in the operation of retirement benefits schemes.
“We’ve placed all aspects of governance, risk, and compliance management at the very core of our services. As a result, we’ve developed detailed and fully documented programmes designed to maintain scheme governance at the optimum level as well as achieving the optimum risk grading from the Authority,” said Nyakundi.
Nyakundi added that receiving the award of being the first Corporate Trustee registered under the RBA in compliance was a remarkable achievement.
He noted that this solidified the scheme’s position as trailblazers in the industry while underscoring its commitment to excellence in serving clients’ retirement needs.
“As the inaugural recipient of this esteemed certificate, we are proud to lead the charge in reshaping the landscape of retirement benefits management,”said Nyakundi.
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