Since the National Pension Commission opened up the option to transfer pension funds, 168,768 workers have moved their Retirement Savings Accounts worth N663.761bn to different Pension Fund Administrators.
This was recently disclosed by PenCom in their “Quarterly summary of Retirement Savings Accounts transferred by Pension Fund Administrators” spaning from the fourth quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2023. This was accessed by The Punch.
According to the report, Section 13 of the Pension Reform Act 2014 stated that an RSA holder may transfer their account from one PFA to another.
PenCom opened the transfer windows in November 2020, which give options to individuals to transfer their savings from one PFA to another of their choice once a year.
The figures show that during the fourth quarter of 2020, 2,799 contributors moved N18.9bn.
Also, in the first quarter of 2021, 12,681 contributors moved N47.78bn; during the second quarter of 2021, 10,166 contributors moved N35.89bn; during the third quarter of 2021, 12,872 contributors moved N45.56bn, and during the fourth quarter of 2021, 12,874 contributors moved N42.49bn.
Providing report about 2022, the report stated that during the first quarter of 2022, 12,336 contributors moved N36.36bn; in the second quarter, 14,821 contributors moved N50.22bn; in the third quarter, 30,973 contributors moved N143.1bn; and in the fourth quarter, 34,283 contributors moved N131.76bn.
The report further revealed that in the first quarter of 2023, 24,963 workers moved a total of N111.67bn.
The Pension Fund Administrators must only process requests for RSA holders who are registered on the Enhanced Contributor Registration System and those whose updated information has been successfully uploaded onto the ECRS, as per the instructions of the pension industry regulator.
“PFAs shall only process RSA transfer requests for eligible RSA holders who have not transferred their RSAs within the last 365 days using the RTS, irrespective of whether it is a leap year or not,” it stated.
The report added, “Effective transfer of RSAs from one PFA to another requires an accurate and reliable database as it is important to ensure that the pension assets transferred belong to the bona-fide RSA holders initiating the transfers.”
PenCom confirmed that they only opened the RSA transfer window once they had established a strong IT system to manage the process.
In June 2019, they completed the implementation of an improved system for registering contributors in the pension industry.
This new system, called ECRS, includes rigorous checks, controls, and data specifications to guarantee high levels of data accuracy for the pension industry.
PenCom also clarified that updating the details of RSA holders to meet ECRS requirements was necessary before initiating any RSA transfers.
