Meet our new team member

Ora recently welcomed Tienie van der Mescht as a non-executive director, adding years of  experience and knowledge to the team’s skill set and shared insights. Tienie told us more:

Tienie, your extensive career at Sanlam included a number of senior positions and industry awards. What would you see as the ultimate highlight of  your career so far?

Definitely the two years I lived and worked in India as chief executive of SMC Global, a wealth and  asset management joint venture between Sanlam and SMC India. It was an incredible experience to be part of a totally different culture and economy, and especially to start-up and run a company in this very unique environment. This is an opportunity not many people get to experience, although it certainly had some challenges. 
Continue reading Goodbye India, Hello Ora!

Pre tax returns remain the objective for investors in deferred tax products like pension, provident and preservation funds (generally referred to as compulsory investments).  However, flows into these types of investments are declining as an increasing number of investors require investment solutions outside of these deferred tax mechanisms (generally referred to as discretionary investments).  For these investors, tax efficient returns are becoming attractive.
Continue reading Tax Efficiency for Unit Trust Investors

The FTSE/JSE All Share Index year closed on a sombre note. However, the divergence of the sector indices’ performances was high. Financials and Industrials did fairly well in a very difficult market. They finished the year up 7.9% and 9.2% respectively.
Continue reading December 2011 Economic Overview

November was a placid month in the domestic market.  Most Equity indices ended in positive territory, except for a -0.9% for the JSE Listed Property Index. However, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index retraced aggressively. The draw down was mainly driven by Dollar strength, as reflected in the positive month (+2%) for the MSCI Developed World Index. Demand for preference shares was high and resulted in a strong month.  This was mainly driven by changes in tax legislation.

Continue reading November 2011 Economic Overview

Continue reading October 2011 Economic Overview