Employers
Participating employers facilitate participation for their employees to become members of Sentinel and are required to fulfil monthly contribution responsibilities, as required by legislation.
State of the art retirement fund specific systems are utilised, with no capacity constraints, and through daily pricing and unitisation, members are able to view their daily updated investment values 24/7 through our secure member portal.
Employers submit contribution data electronically through a secure website and a basic file validation is conducted before the data is accepted. Monthly contributions are deposited into the Fund’s bank account and are posted to member accounts within 5 days of receipt of the contributions and accurate contribution data from the employer.
IT infrastructure is hosted off-site, systems are web based and the total systems infrastructure and data is mirrored in real-time, ensuring 100% business continuity.
The Fund, as a responsible corporate citizen, is committed to the highest levels of corporate governance, compliance and transparency. To this end, five dedicated Committees support the Board of Trustees in managing and monitoring the affairs of the Fund.
A combined assurance framework, with four levels of assurance, is followed. Management oversees the daily internal controls and implements the Board’s strategy, the internal auditors assess the effectiveness of internal controls and risk management, the external auditors express an opinion on the financial statements and the actuary provides assurance on the solvency and sustainability of the pensioner and risk reserves. The Audit and Risk Committee applies a coordinated approach to the appropriate combined assurance provided.
Employer flexibility is enhanced through the following:
- Employer Special Rule provisions mirror the conditions of employment of employees who are members of the Fund.
- Sentinel’s risk benefit offering maximises flexibility in that employers can either elect to participate in our self-insured product and select appropriate cover levels for all or groups of members, or opt-out of either one or both cover types, and obtain alternative products from a registered insurer of the employer’s choice. The opt-out option enables employers to re-broke risk benefits annually, without necessarily impacting employees’ retirement plans.
- Pension backed home loans are offered through IMAS, an independent service provider. The employer has the option to participate, which essentially means transacting monthly loan repayments through a payroll deduction. Members can obtain a guarantee for a home loan of up to 50% of their Fund Credit value, over a maximum term of 20 years, at the prevailing IMAS lending rate.
- Participating employers have the option to create a Management Committee. Should the employer decide to create a Management Committee, costs associated with elections, meetings and secretarial functions are borne by the employer. As Sentinel accepts its responsibilities and does not delegate any of these to employers or intermediaries (such as completion of application forms, benefits counselling, etc), our experience shows that participating employers seldom see the need for the formation of a Management Committee.
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