Professional Principal Executive Officer

The purpose of this qualification is to prepare a learner to manage a retirement fund within the legal framework in order to give effect to the purpose of the fund. A qualified learner will be able to: • Guide and monitor compliance with external legislation. • Implement and monitor fund rules and Board approved policies. • Manage the operations of the retirement fund. • Guide and implement the Board's decisions.

This qualification will support the professionalisation of the role of the Principal Officer which has historically been unstructured and undefined. It will also support the transformation imperative as it enables incumbents to obtain a qualification that they may not have access to as working individuals who may additionally not satisfy traditional Higher Education access criteria. In developing this qualification, the occupational profile of the Principal Officer of a retirement fund was negotiated and agreed as the standard that should maintain parity across contexts. The Principal Officer is a statutory appointment with legislated minimum technical expertise required for the role of guiding the Board of Trustees in the management of a retirement fund. The Principal Officer must ensure compliance with all regulatory and statutory requirements imposed on the retirement fund and execute the corporate strategies. In terms of the sanction by the state regulatory bodies, the Principal Officer must be fit and proper, which includes competence, best acquired through a formal qualification. This qualification is the first of its kind - due to the unique financial services environment in South Africa, which, through forward thinking has established regulations to ensure integrity of financial services. This occupational qualification will provide much needed recognition (through RPL) of competence in expert incumbents who may want to formalise their education for purposes of career mobility or succession planning to ensure continuity and sustainability of retirement funds. The Principal Officer represents the cornerstone of governance in the fund - all governance interventions are initiated and driven from this function. The Principal Officer drives should thus be current on all compliance and governance issues to ensure compliance. The range of learners would include current Principal Officers, trustees and retirement fund functionaries with demonstrable experience in retirement funds and a relevant qualification with a desire to follow this career trajectory. Additionally, because of the close link to the claims and employee benefits functions, it is further envisioned that those people working in a claims or employee benefits and compensation environment may take up this qualification. This occupational qualification will form the apex of the retirement functionary learning path and will be linked to the Principal Officer Association (POA) professional designations. The learning pathway will include the Professional Trustee qualification.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): RPL for access to the integrated assessment: Accredited providers and approved workplaces must apply the internal assessment criteria specified in the related curriculum document to establish and confirm prior learning. Prior learning must be acknowledged by a statement of results. RPL for entry requirements to access the qualification: • Accredited providers and approved workplaces may recognise prior learning against the relevant access requirements. Entry Requirements: A minimum of an NQF Level 5 qualification in any of the following fields or related fields; commerce and/ or finance and/or law and/ or human resources. It is advisable that to enter this qualification you have relevant retirement fund work experience (as the content of the qualification requires solid understanding of the workplace).

• The ability to guide and monitor fund compliance with applicable external pension regulation.
• The ability to implement and monitor fund rules and Board approved policies.
• The ability to manage the operations, finances and investments of a fund.
• The ability to guide and implement the decisions of the Board of Trustees.