National Pension Commission 4th Quarter Report for 2018.
National Pension Commission has released its 4th Quarter Report for 2018.
Below are notable extracts from the report;
1. National Pension Commission (PenCom) conducted the Routine Examinations of 31 Licensed Operators comprising 21 Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), 6 Closed Pension Fund Administrators (CPFAs) and 4 Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs) using the new Risk Based Supervision (RBS) model. The new approach is in line with the RBS methodology adopted by the Financial Services Regulation Coordinating Committee (FSRCC).
2. PenCom undertook several investigative activities during the period under review. The investigations were prompted by complaints from customers, whistleblowers and information from offsite surveillance.
The investigations covered issues bordering on the following areas:
a) Corporate Governance matters;
b) Irregularities in payment of death benefits; and
c) Service delivery issues
3. Major issues observed from the review of Compliance Reports forwarded by Operators to PenCom during the quarter under review were: multiple PIN registration, un-credited pension contributions, exposure to FGN bonds and treasury bills relative to Net Asset Value (NAV) and delay in the payment of retirement benefits. Others were payment of accrued rights of treasury funded retirees and outstanding commitments from previous routine examination.
4. During the period under review, Unico CPFA Limited, one of the licensed Closed Pension Fund Administrators relinquished its operational license and exited the pension business. This was due to the decision of the Sponsor, UACN PLC to discontinue the Scheme. Consequently, the CPFA has wound-up its pension plans and transferred the funds into the RSAs of all its members with PFAs of their choice.
5. The Commission continued to apply various strategies to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014. This included the application of sanctions and collaboration with key stakeholders on public enlightenment campaigns as well as engagement of defaulting employers via pension recovery agents employed by the Commission to recover unremitted pension contributions.
6. The Commission maintained the services of Recovery Agents (RAs) for the recovery of outstanding pension contributions and penalty from defaulting employers. The RAs were mandated to review the pension records of the employers assigned by the Commission with a view to recover outstanding pension contributions with penalty. During the quarter under review, the sum of N365.56 million was recovered by the RAs. This brings the total recoveries made by the Agents from inception of the exercise in 2012 to date to N15.36 billion, representing principal contribution of N7.87 billion and penalty of N7.49 billion. These amounts have since been credited to the respective RSAs of the employees.
7.During the quarter under review, the Commission processed 240 applications for the refund of pension contributions of Military personnel and Other Security Agencies during the year. The sum of N157.86 million was refunded to the contributors. A Tripartite Committee for the Winding Down of the Military Refund was set up in October, 2018. The Committee comprised representatives from the Commission, Military Pension Board (MPB) and Pension Fund Operators (PenOp). The main objective of the Committee was to review the entire refund process with a view to ensuring the immediate payment of all outstanding requests. This is to ensure that all personnel receive their refunds accordingly.
8. State Governments continued to make progress in the level of implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS). As at the fourth quarter of 2018, the number of States that have enacted laws on the CPS stood at 27, while eight (8) States were at the bill stage of implementation. Yobe State is, however, yet to commence the process of enacting a law on the CPS. 12 out of the 36 states had commenced remittance of contributions into the RSAs of their employees. 8 States commenced the funding of their Retirement Benefit Bond Redemption Fund Accounts (RBBRFAs). The Commission impressively continued to have several engagements with the State Governments on the Implementation of the CPS.
The full report is available for your perusal here
National Pension Commission 4th Quarter Report for 2018