Johannesburg - The existing private sector infrastructure could play a key role in the savings crisis, said Grant Pote, Old Mutual's executive sponsor for retirement fund reform, on Tuesday.

The government's proposed retirement reforms were also critical in solving the country's savings issue.

"Given the key imperatives of increasing access to retirement savings for all at low cost, we believe that this can best be achieved with least risk by taking advantage of the existing private sector infrastructure," said Pote.

He added that this needed to be supported by enabling regulation, such as introducing compulsory provisioning at an appropriate percentage of salary for all formally employed individuals.

"We believe the reforms will improve household savings, boost economic growth and improve income security for a far larger percentage of the South African population, while also reducing the cost of saving and improving access to formal savings vehicles," concluded Pote.

Pension reforms announced by Finance Minister Trevor Manual in February proposed a new social security system in the country which entails a mandatory, earnings-related scheme to be financed by a social security tax.

Implementation of the reforms is, however, expected to take several years and the government is meeting with private institutions to discuss many of the open questions around costs, partial withdrawal, compliance and conflicts.