Page 139 - Profile's Unit Trusts & Collective Investments - March 2025

Classification of CISs

Fund Classification GLOBAL
WORLDWIDE
SOUTH AFRICAN
TIER (Domicile of Assets) Invest at least 55% of Invest in South African of South Africa with no
Invest at least 80%
and/or foreign markets
their assets in South
of their assets outside
African investments.
(complete flexibility, no
1st limits set either way). restriction to assets of a
specific geographical
country/region.

TIER (Asset Allocation) stock exchanges, depending equity, interest bearing and INTEREST BEARING Listed property shares on
EQUITY
REAL ESTATE
MULTI ASSET
Listed shares on various
Bonds, money market
Invests in a combination of
local and overseas stock
instruments and other
2nd on 1st tier classification listed real estate assets interest-bearing securities exchanges
Funds Funds Funds Funds
General Flexible Variable Term General
SA General High Equity Variable Term ILB
TIER (Focus) Mid & Small Cap SA High Equity Short Term
Large Cap
3rd Resource Medium Equity SA Money Market
Unclassified
Low Equity
Financial
Income
Industrial
Unclassified
Africa
Unclassified
Many permutations are possible across first and second tiers
(eg, SA - Equity, Global - Equity, Worldwide - Multi Asset, etc).
Third tier classifications are specific to Equity, Multi Asset, Interest Bearing and Real Estate.

Overview
The classification system consists of a three-tier structure, which is illustrated on the following
page. The first-tier groups funds according to the geographic focus of the underlying assets; the
second-tier is concerned with the broad asset allocation of the fund; and the third-tier allows a
more discreet definition of asset allocation. It is important to understand that the four first-tier
categories (the three geographic divisions) can be combined with any of the four second-tier
divisions. The third-tier classifications, however, are specific to their second-tier “parent”
categories.
First Tier
At the first level, funds are classified according to the geographic focus of their underlying
investments – whether they are invested in South Africa, offshore, or in a combination of local and
offshore assets.
South African Funds (previously called Domestic funds) are funds that have at least 55% of
their assets invested in South African markets at all times. They may invest up to 45% of assets
outside South Africa.
Worldwide Funds are funds which invest in both South African and foreign markets. These
funds have total flexibility as to where they invest – they can have 100% of their assets offshore, or

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