Banks Get N638.89bn Pension Funds From PFAs

Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs) have invested N638.89bn pension funds in the banking industry as of the end of January 2019, according to the latest figures from the National Pension Commission.

PenCom revealed that the total assets under management of the Contributory Pension Scheme stood at N8.7tn during the period under review.

The data showed that the pension operators invested N662.8bn of the funds in the CPS in the banking industry as of the end of May 2018.

According to the report, the amount the Pension Fund Administrators invested in the banking sector was N409.48bn in January 2017.

The commission said the operators had invested a substantial part of the pension funds in the Federal Government’s bonds, treasury bills and state government securities.

The PenCom report stated that some of the money was invested in agency bonds, supra-national bonds, commercial papers, foreign money market securities, and open/close-end funds.

Other investment portfolios where the operators invested the funds are real estate investment trusts, private equity funds, infrastructure funds, cash and other assets.

The acting Director-General, PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar, said, “The Contributory Pension Scheme has been very impactful in Nigeria since the commencement of its implementation in 2004. The formation of long term domestic capital, represented by the over N8.74tn worth of pension assets as of January 2019, belonging to 8.46 million formal sector participants, is slowly but surely changing Nigeria’s financial landscape.

“This, by extension, is also transforming the course and pace of our socio-economic development.”

She also stated that the official launch of the micro pension plan would help to accommodate more Nigerians in the CPS, which would give room for more expansion of the scheme.