The total value of pension fund assets in the country has increased by 2.07 per cent or N219 billion to N10.796 trillion in May, up from the N10.577 trillion recorded in April.
A report by the National Pension Commission (PENCOM), on summary of pension fund assets as of May 31, obtained on its website yesterday, showed that the Pension Fund Administrators’ (PFAs) investment in the FGN bonds, treasury bills, Agency bonds, Sukuk bonds and Green bonds in the month under review were N5.982 trillion, N1.113 trillion, N11.361 billion, N84.658 billion and N14.278 billion respectively.
The report also put the total value of assets held in corporate bonds, corporate infrastructure bonds and corporate green bonds in May by the entire PFAs at N707.475 billion, N22.241 billion and N29.114 billion respectively. Bank placements and commercial papers by the firms were N1.389 trillion and N199.486 billion respectively.
The report showed that total assets value in Retirement Saving Account (RSA) increased by N189 billion during the month under review, to hit N8.353 trillion against N8.164 trillion it recorded in April.
A breakdown of the RSA showed that its component, which consists of the RSA Fund I, Fund II, Fund III, Fund IV and Fund V, stood at N25.504 billion, N4.673 trillion, N2.809 trillion, N845 billion and N24.8 billion respectively in May as against their performances in April, which were N24.938 billion, N4.578 trillion, N2.729 trillion, N831.627 billion and N9.98 billion respectively.
These showed that the total assets value of all the components of the RSA recorded growth and yielded returns during the month under review when compared to the figures of the preceding month.
Similarly, the total assets value of the Approved Existing Schemes (AESs) and the Closed Pension Fund Administrators (CPFAs) were N1.131 trillion and N1.312 trillion in May respectively against their previous record in April, which were N1.124 trillion and N1.288 trillion respectively.
Pencom in the report stated that “these figures are based on unaudited valuation report as at May 31, 2020.”
The AESs, according to Pencom, are pension schemes that were existing prior to the introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in June, 2004 and were approved to continue as AES.
However, “membership of this fund is restricted to employees of that specific organisation,” the report stated.
It also explained that the CPFAs “are pension schemes in the private sector existing prior to the introduction of CPS and were licensed to operate as Closed Pension Fund Administrators and membership of this fund is restricted to employees of that specific organisation.”
The RSA FUND I represented the active contributors to the pension scheme who are below 50 years of age and chooses for their contributions to be invested in this fund while the RSA FUND II consist of default fund for all active contributors who are below 50 years of age.
In addition, the RSA FUND III is made up of default fund for all active contributors who are 50 years and above while the RSA FUND IV are fund for retirees only.
Moreover, the RSA FUND V that consists of Micro Pension Fund “is for the informal sector and employees of organisations with less than three employees,” the PENCOM said.