FNB Personal Segment CEO Lytania Johnson calls on all its retirement investors to come forward and claim their investments that lie with the bank unclaimed. Photo: Sipho Siso

The First National Bank (FNB) has urged its retirement investors to come forward and claim what it described as ‘huge sums of money that lie unclaimed from its retirement investment fund’.

The disclosure was made by FNB Personal Segment CEO Lytania Johnson during a press briefing on the latest insights of its annual retirement survey held at The Venue Green Park in Morningside, Sandton. Johnson said the bank was doing all it can to trace the investors to alert them about the savings or monies that lie unclaimed at the bank.

“We’re not alone in this situation,” she said and added that she was aware of a similar predicament at the stock exchange where investors also have large sums of money that lie unclaimed.

“As FNB, we are calling on all our retirement investors to come forward and claim their investments. We’re also doing our best to trace these investors and alert them to the large sums of unclaimed money we’re sitting with.

“We’re happy to share this with the media in hope that it can reach far and wide, including into the eyes of many our retirement investors,” Johnson said.

Head of product at FNB Wealth and Investment Management Samukelo Zwane says financially distressed workers jumped to the opportunity to withdraw part of savings to settle pressing financial issues in the home. Photo: Sipho Siso

Head of product at FNB Wealth and Investment Management Samukelo Zwane poured out the insights of the bank’s annual retirement survey which seeks to highlight the current trends in the sector in relation to the state of the economy.

“Most pickup points on the latest survey pointed to the advent of the two-pot retirement system introduced late last year. The trends indicated a financially distressed working class that jumped to the opportunity to withdraw part of its retirement savings to settle pressing financial issues in the home,” Zwane said.

He said 60% of the people sampled for the survey indicated they had a retirement plan in mind, but Zwane warned that a plan in mind alone was not good enough as it needed to be complemented a real act of execution of the plan through the right product solutions.

Asked what the issues at play were, Zwane said most pointed to a growing phenomenon of less disposable income that could enable them to consider saving for their retirement. “They claimed that most of the disposable income they have is consumed by household requirements and very little if any remains for savings,” Zwane outlined.

Senior economist at FNB Koketso Mano believes an improved economic outlook could lead to some gains in some of the financial sectors. Photo: Sipho Siso

Senior economist at FNB Koketso Mano believes an improved economic outlook could lead to some gains in some of the financial sectors, this alone would not be enough as financial jitters were often caused by the state of the global economy and issues at play.

“In South Africa tend to catch a cold each time the United States of America sneezes. The fact that our inflation rate is still below three percent could be a positive element for some, but the current tensions worldwide could suck up the positives for many of our households in South Africa most of whom are still not reaping the benefits of a low inflation rate due to a rising cost of living,” Mano said.

The group photo of some of the executives of FNB who participated in the unravelling of the latest trends of the bank’s annual retirement survey, including a financial journalist who led the discussions. Photo: Sipho Siso