GABORONE, June 3 (Reuters) – Botswana’s Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOF), with 83 billion pula ($7.85 billion) in assets under management, has appointed South African advisory firm NMG Benefits to administrate the fund.

Effective June 2, NMG Botswana, a joint venture between BPOF (51%) and NMG South Africa (49%), will collect contributions, manage payrolls and maintain records for the 156,000-member fund, it said late on Wednesday.

The outsourcing of the fund’s administration is to comply with a 2017 decision by Botswana’s regulators that all pension funds be managed by an independent administrator unconnected with the fund itself.

The BPOF, one of Africa’s largest pension funds and the dominant investor in the diamond producer’s economy with stakes in energy, mining and retail, has been anxious to fall in line with financial regulations and streamline its administration after ending an outsourcing deal with Alexander Forbes in 2015.

Botswana’s financial industry has been growing in recent years to become a key driver of growth in the services sector, but the industry is still dominated by South African firms.

($1 = 10.5708 pulas)

(Reporting by Brian Benza; editing by Mfuneko Toyana and Toby Chopra)