BPOPF invests P180m in Bona Life

Pension fund becomes single shareholder Money mainly used to strengthen balance sheet CEO: “The pension fund has come back and we are here to re-start Bona Life.” Richest pension fund in Botswana, the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) has invested P180 million in the once down and out Bona Life to become the sole shareholder in the life insurance business, The Business Weekly & Review has established. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,2,3,4" ihc_mb_template="1" ] According to the CEO of Bona Life, Phatsimo Keakabetse, the presence of the country’s largest pension fund in the company means the turbulent past of Bona Life is over. She said the money was mainly used to strengthen Bona Life’s balance sheet. Bona Life has had to close shop at least twice in the past owing to boardroom brawls and an impecunious state of affairs. In January 2020, the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) placed the insurer under statutory management with Paul Masie appointed as the statutory manager. At a press briefing on Wednesday this week, Keakabetse revealed that Bona Life ran into trouble when its capital requirements fell below the amount prescribed by the regulator. “Bona Life has primarily banked pensioners,” she said. “And imagine when their funds have been misused! We are talking about people who are out of work.” She noted that Bona Life failed to show the regulator proof of where it had invested the pensioners’ funds, hence it was placed under statutory management. “The regulator feared that the pensioner might suffer because of these tussles because Bona Life held pensioners’ money,” she said. “Eventually BPOPF decided that as it has already invested in the business and doesn’t want to see pensioners suffer (and) it was going to acquire the whole business.” Keakabetse said BPOPF then re-invested in the business to grow its investments. “Not only that,” she added, “but also to pursue the mandate to localise the industry. The pension fund has come back and we are here to re-start Bona Life.” Keakabetse stated that Bona Life has regularised and is now compliant in terms of excess assets over liabilities as required by the regulator. But inspite of the difficulties that the business has faced, Bona Life has always made pay-outs to pensioners. “From a meeting obligations perspective, Bona Life has never failed,” Keakabetse said. Now emboldened, the insurer’s vision is to prove that homegrown financial services businesses can also be successful. “We hope that we will indeed show that localisation is actually possible,” said the CEO of Bona Life. “If we follow the right business principles, the right policies and structures, what can possibly stop us from success?” Keakabetse disclosed that Bona Life intends to invest the pensioners’ funds locally and avoid capital flight. “We are hoping that at some point, we will have had the opportunity to also create employment,” she stated. [/ihc-hide-content]

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BPOPF invests P180m in Bona Life

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