The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) has stated that pension contributions lodged at the Bank of Ghana (BoG) should be transferred to the private companies mandated to collect and manage the funds before the end of the year.
This involves the management of the Tier-2 contributions by the private fund managers formally referred to as Corporate Trustees.
This should be good news not only for the fund companies which have been awaiting this since they were licensed in 2012 but especially workers whose contributions have been made since implementation of the new 3-tier pension scheme in January 2010.
This is because the companies through their registered schemes are expected to invest the funds to generate returns above the Treasury-Bill rate paid on that currently lodged at the central bank.
The Tier-2 contributions which are currently in the Temporary Pension Fund Account (TPFA) at the Bank of Ghana have so far yielded over 1.64 billion Ghana cedis after investments in government Treasury Bills and Bonds.
The Acting Chief Executive of the NPRA, Laud Senanu at a press briefing noted that an audit of the TPFA funds is being undertaken by Price Water House Coopers to reconcile information provided by employers to enable the generation of statements to members/contributors to the scheme. They auditors are due to submit their final report by Friday 31st October, 2014 for the disbursement to the Trustees to be done by the end of the year.
He explains the apparent delay in the transfer of the funds from the Bank of Ghana to the Corporate Trustees is in the ultimate interest of workers.
“There have been some delays in the process but as they say, better late than never. If a delay would enable us do the right thing so that when the workers get their statements, they are satisfied that it truly reflects what they have contributed to. I think it is better than rushing out to do something that the contributors would complain. Happily, we are coming to the end and by the end of this year, the transfer will begin.
He added that measures have been instituted to ensure the new timeline is met. “The board has established a committee. That committee is being assisted by a technical committee, made up of technical staff of NPRA, the fund administrator and representatives from the corporate trustees. They have started meeting.
They are almost complete. So once the audit report is received and it is reviewed by the board and we are satisfied, then the process would begin” he stated.
Mr. Senanu concluded by urging workers to exercise restraint as the NPRA is working closely with the Auditors, the Fund Administrators, SSNIT, Corporate Trustees and the Controller to ensure a smooth transfer of the TPFA funds to the Custodians of duly registered Occupational Pension Schemes.
