The newly updated Trustee Training Toolkit (TTK) e-learning platform was launched by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) on 26 September 2023, when it released the first eleven modules. It is expected that the platform’s remaining eleven modules will be launched in March 2024.
The TTK is a free e-learning program that has been created expressly to provide board members of retirement funds (trustees) with a better understanding of their roles and assist them to carry out their fiduciary duties more effectively and efficiently by ensuring that they have more comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge and skills.
Board members are required by Section 7A (3) of the Pension Funds Act to achieve the prescribed level of skill and training within six months of being appointed or elected and to maintain such prescribed levels for the duration of their term of appointment.
The Conduct Standard 4 of 2020 (CS4) prescribes the minimum skills and training requirements for board members of retirement funds. The CS4 also prescribes the TTK as the official minimum training requirement for all trustees of retirement funds in South Africa.
It is a compulsory requirement that trustees complete the new TTK. The new TTK replaces the initial TTK and is required to be completed by all board members irrespective of whether they completed the initial (old) TTK. There is no pass or fail outcome. However, the TTK contains module assessments and a summative assessment.
Board members of pension funds who were appointed on or before 26 September 2023 must complete the first 11 modules of the new TTK, within six months from the date of publication of the FSCA RF Notice 21 of 2023, which was published on 27 September 2023.
All new board members of pension funds appointed or elected after 26 September 2023 must complete the first 11 modules within six months from the date of their appointment or election.
The first 11 modules of the new TTK are available at: https://elearning.fsca.co.za/home
For assistance with the TTK, send an e-mail to the FSCA at TrusteeToolkit.Technical@fsca.co.za or call 012 428 8000.