By Shruti Menon Seeboo
Ahead of the 9th Pension Funds and Alternative Investments Africa (PIAfrica) Conference at the Hilton Mauritius, we speak with Nazlie Seegers, Chief Experience Officer of Salt Employee Benefits. In an era defined by private market acceleration and shifting regulations, such as South Africa’s “Two-Pot” system, Nazlie explores how digital transformation is empowering trustees to move from retrospective oversight to proactive, evidence-based governance. From translating complex ESG strategies to demystifying illiquid asset reporting, she reveals how Salt EB combines robust data integrity with human-centred communication to shield the member experience from market volatility and ensure long-term fiduciary success. Excerpts:
- The Summit emphasises Enhancing Fiduciary Oversight. From an administrator and benefit provider standpoint, how does digital transformation and data analytics specifically help trustees meet their governance and compliance obligations more effectively?
Digital transformation enables trustees to move from largely retrospective oversight to continuous, evidence-based governance. For administrators and benefit providers, this shift is critical in supporting trustees to discharge their fiduciary duties with greater confidence, consistency, and defensibility. Integrated digital platforms give trustees real-time visibility into key risk areas such as contribution compliance, benefit payments, service delivery, complaints, and member interactions. This reduces reliance on static reporting and allows trustees to exercise informed oversight based on live operational data rather than assurances alone.
Data analytics then translates this information into meaningful governance insight. Trustees are able to identify emerging conduct, operational, and data-integrity risks early; monitor Treating Customers Fairly and conduct outcomes across the member journey; and assess administrator performance against regulatory obligations in a measurable and transparent way. This supports better questioning, stronger challenge, and more informed decision-making at board level.
Importantly, digital enablement also strengthens regulatory defensibility. Automated audit trails, exception reporting, and data-driven dashboards provide clear evidence of oversight, controls, and timely intervention — which is increasingly expected by regulators and oversight bodies. Ultimately, digital transformation does not replace fiduciary judgement. It enhances it by equipping trustees with accurate, timely, and reliable information, enabling proactive governance and better outcomes for members — which remains the core purpose of fiduciary oversight.
- The shift toward Sustainable and Climate-Forward Investing requires transparency. How can benefit administrators help pension funds effectively communicate their ESG and impact-driven strategies to the end-member for greater engagement?
For ESG and climate-forward investing to be credible, it must be understood, not simply disclosed. Benefit administrators play a critical role in translating complex investment strategies into clear, relevant information that resonates with members and builds trust. The starting point is data integrity and consistency. Administrators sit at the centre of member records, investment information, and reporting, and are therefore well placed ensure that ESG data is accurate, traceable, and aligned across trustee reports, regulatory disclosures, and member-facing communication. This consistency is essential to avoid greenwashing and to maintain confidence.
Digital enablement is then the key enabler of transparency. Member portals, dashboards, and targeted communications allow funds to move away from generic annual reports toward ongoing, bite-sized engagement. ESG and climate strategies can be explained in plain language, supported by visual indicators, practical examples, and real-world outcomes — such as how assets are allocated, what risks are being managed, and what long-term value is being protected for members.
Administrators also help trustees link ESG outcomes to what members care about most: retirement adequacy, resilience, and sustainability of benefits over time. When members understand how responsible investing contributes to managing climate risk, protecting long-term returns, and supporting broader economic stability, engagement becomes more meaningful and less abstract. Finally, effective communication requires feedback loops. Digital platforms allow administrators to track member engagement, questions, and concerns, providing trustees with insight into where further education or clarification is needed. This transforms ESG communication from a one-way disclosure exercise into an ongoing conversation. In this way, administrators help pension funds move beyond compliance-driven ESG reporting toward transparent, member-centric communication that supports informed participation and long-term trust.
- In an environment driven by Private Markets Acceleration, what are the critical operational and reporting challenges for administrators when integrating illiquid, alternative assets into member statements and valuations?
The acceleration of private market allocations introduces a fundamentally different operating reality for administrators, particularly around valuation, data governance, and member disclosure. Unlike listed assets, alternative investments are not priced daily, often involve complex structures, and rely on external managers for valuation inputs. This creates both operational and fiduciary challenges that must be carefully managed.
One of the most significant challenges is valuation timing and consistency. Illiquid assets are typically valued quarterly or less frequently, using models and assumptions rather than observable market prices. Administrators must ensure that these valuations are applied consistently, clearly time-stamped, and appropriately reflected in member statements, without creating a misleading sense of precision or daily liquidity. Data integration is another critical hurdle. Alternative assets generate fragmented and non-standardised data across multiple managers, custodians, and reporting formats. Administrators need strong data controls, reconciliation processes, and governance frameworks to ensure that capital calls, distributions, fees, and valuations are accurately captured and correctly allocated at fund and member level.
From a reporting perspective, transparency without oversimplification is key. Member statements must remain clear and understandable, while still fairly representing the nature of illiquid investments, associated risks, and valuation
methodologies. Overly technical disclosures undermine engagement, but insufficient explanation creates conduct and trust risks. There are also operational implications for liquidity management and benefit payments. Administrators must support trustees in understanding how illiquid assets interact with cash flow requirements, switching rules, and benefit settlements, particularly in environments where member choice or portability exists.
Ultimately, the successful integration of private market assets depends on robust administrator capability: strong data governance, disciplined valuation controls, clear audit trails, and well-designed member communication. When done properly, this allows trustees to pursue enhanced long-term returns through alternatives while maintaining fairness, accuracy, and confidence in member reporting — which remains central to fiduciary duty.
- For the average fund member, what are the most significant risks associated with Navigating New Regulation across key markets, and what steps is Salt taking to insulate the member experience from regulatory turbulence?
For the average fund member, the most significant risk associated with regulatory change is not the regulation itself, but the confusion and disruption that can arise if it is poorly translated into practical member experience. Regulatory reform often affects how and when members can access their benefits, how contributions are allocated, how statements are presented, and how tax is applied. If these changes are not implemented carefully, members experience uncertainty, delays, and inconsistent outcomes — which directly undermines trust. Members feel regulatory turbulence in very tangible ways: uncertainty about what they are entitled to, changes to balances they do not understand, conflicting messages, or delays in processing benefits. From a conduct and fairness perspective, these moments are high risk, because complexity can quickly result in poor outcomes if not actively managed.
At Salt Employee Benefits, our approach is to treat regulatory change as both an operational and communication challenge, not simply a compliance exercise. The objective is to shield the member journey from disruption while ensuring trustees remain fully compliant and defensible. A recent example is the introduction of South Africa’s Two-Pot system. This was a complex reform with significant implications for how contributions are split and how benefits are accessed. Beyond system and process changes, we recognised that member understanding was critical. Salt therefore took a practical, visual approach to education, using physical containers and balls to demonstrate how contributions are “seeded” into the savings pot and preserved in the retirement pot. This simple, tangible explanation was shared through public demonstrations and featured on national news, helping many members grasp a concept that would otherwise have remained abstract and confusing.
Behind the scenes, this was supported by strong regulatory translation into system rules, automation to ensure consistent application, and enhanced controls to reduce operational risk. At the same time, communication was aligned across digital platforms, call centres, and trustee messaging to ensure members received clear, consistent information. Ultimately, while regulation will continue to evolve, our role as administrator is to ensure that members experience clarity, continuity, and fairness, even in periods of significant regulatory change. By combining strong governance with practical, human-centred communication, we help protect member outcomes and confidence in the system.
- How do you measure and improve the member experience when it comes to long term retirement savings, especially in the context of potentially volatile global markets and complex investment structures?
Measuring and improving the member experience in long-term retirement savings requires a shift away from short-term sentiment and toward outcome-based, longitudinal measures. Retirement is not a transactional product, and member experience cannot be assessed purely through moment-in-time interactions or market performance. The first layer is journey-based measurement. We assess experience at critical points in the member lifecycle — joining, contribution changes, preservation decisions, regulatory transitions, benefit claims, and retirement — rather than relying solely on generic satisfaction scores.
This allows us to identify friction, confusion, or delays that matter most to members, particularly during high-impact events. The second layer is conduct and fairness metrics. In volatile markets and complex investment environments, members need consistency, accuracy, and clarity. We therefore monitor indicators such as processing accuracy, turnaround times, complaint root causes, repeat queries, and clarity of communication.
These provide a more reliable view of experience quality than market returns alone, which are outside the control of administrators. Digital analytics play an important role in this process. Engagement with portals, educational content, and communication campaigns provides insight into where members are seeking reassurance or guidance, especially during periods of market volatility.
This enables targeted education and proactive communication before anxiety escalates into complaints or poor decisions. Improvement is then driven through root-cause elimination, not remediation. If members are confused about investment structures, we simplify explanations and enhance tools. If volatility drives increased queries, we strengthen proactive messaging and trustee-approved communication. If processing issues arise, system and process changes are implemented to prevent recurrence. Ultimately, a good member experience in retirement savings is one where members feel informed, treated fairly, and confident that their interests are being protected over time — regardless of market cycles. By combining journey-based measurement, conduct oversight, and data-driven improvement, we ensure that experience management supports long-term outcomes, not short-term noise.
