Browsing by Author "Van Tonder, Wiaan"

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    The modernisation of trustees' investment functions in South African law through the implementation of an investment rule based on modern portfolio theory
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Van Tonder, Wiaan; De Waal, Marius Johannes; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Law. Dept. of Private Law.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Changes in investment management and advances in economics and finance have led to extensive reform of trust investment law in New York, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. The centrepiece of this reform is modern portfolio theory (“MPT”). Today, trustee investing in each of these jurisdictions is governed by an investment rule based on MPT. In contrast, South African trust law has not kept abreast of contemporary changes to trust investment law and, consequently, trustees in South Africa are not judged by an investment rule based on MPT. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine whether trustees’ investment functions in South African law should be modernised through the implementation of an investment rule based on MPT. To this end, the dissertation analyses the development of trustees’ investment standards in South Africa, explains MPT, and compares the theoretical underpinnings of trust investment law as applicable in South Africa vis-à-vis the three foreign jurisdictions mentioned above. The dissertation concludes that trustees and beneficiaries can benefit greatly from modernising trustees’ investment functions and proffers recommendations for reform.