Angry workers transfer N483bn to new PFAs

No fewer than 109,522 workers have transferred their Retirement Savings Accounts to other Pension Fund Administrators since the National Pension Commission opened the transfer window in 2020.

Findings by The PUNCH revealed that the workers moved N483.3bn RSAs for different reasons.

The National Pension Commission disclosed this in its report titled ‘Quarterly Summary of Retirement Savings Accounts Transferred by Pension Fund Administrators’.

According to the figures, 2,799, 12,681 and 10,166 workers transferred N18.9bn, N47.78bn, and N35.89bn in the Q4 of 2020, Q1 of 2021 and Q2 of 2021,

Similarly, 12,872, 12,874, 12,336 and 14,821 transferred N45.56bn, N42.49bn, N36.36bn and N50.22bn in Q3 of 2021, Q4 of 2021, Q1 of 2022 and Q2 of 2022.

As more awareness rises on the transfer window, PenCom’s figures revealed that 30,973 workers moved N143.1bn in the third quarter of 2022.

Section 13 of the Pension Reform Act 2014 specifies that a Retirement Savings Account holder may transfer his RSA from one PFA to another.

It adds that such transfers should not be more than once a year.

According to the pension industry regulator, the PFAs must only process requests for RSA holders registered on the Enhanced Contributor Registration System and those whose recaptured information have been successfully uploaded on to the ECRS.

“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.

PenCom opened the transfer window in November 2020, which allowed contributors to change their PFAs.

“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,” it said.

PenCom noted that the opening of the RSA transfer window was done after it ensured that robust IT infrastructure to drive the process was put in place.

It said the process was finalised in June 2019 with the deployment of an enhanced contributor registration system for the pension industry.

The pension regulator said the ECRS incorporated extensive validations, controls and data requirements that would deliver high data integrity standards for the pension industry.

It said the upgrade of RSA holders’ details to meet the ECRS standards was, therefore, a prerequisite for RSA transfers.

Those who registered with various PFAs from inception of the Contributory Pension Scheme to June 2019 were required to get recaptured, it added.

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