Nigeria’s total pension fund assets hit N14.5 trillion in October 2022

Nigeria’s total pension fund assets rose to a record high of N14.59 trillion as of the end of October 2022, a 1.14% (N164.4 billion) increase compared to the N14.42 trillion recorded in the previous month.

This is contained in the monthly pension fund industry report, released by the National Pension Commission (PenCom). Between January and October 2022, the fund has increased by a whopping N1.16 trillion.

In the same vein, the number of Retirement Savings Account (RSA) registrations jumped to 9.85 million in the review month, up from 9.79 million registrations recorded as of the end of the previous month.

Further highlights: Investments in corporate debt securities by the PFAs rose by 2.64% month-on-month to stand at N1.53 trillion from N1.49 trillion recorded in the previous month.

On the other hand, PFAs reduced their investments in real estate by 4.93% to N218.1 billion as of October 2022 from N229.4 billion recorded as of the beginning of the month.

The RSA fund II still accounted for most of the fund contribution with N6.35 trillion, representing 43.5% of the total pension funds, followed by RSA Fund III with N4.05 trillion, which represents 27.8% of the total assets.

Meanwhile, existing schemes accounted for 9.9% of the total funds, increasing by N2.41 billion in October 2022 to stand at N1.44 trillion while the CPFAs accounted for 10.2% of the total funds, standing at N1.48 trillion as of the review period.

Investments in the local equities market dropped by N40.41 billion to stand at N828.17 billion as of the end of October 2022, following the bearish sentiments ravaging the Nigerian stock market. In October, the All-Share index fell by 10.6% to 43,839.08 points from 49,029.16 points recorded in the previous months.

However, the market regained 8.7% in November 2022, as the all-share index topped 47,660 points at the end of the month.

On the other hand, investments in federal government debt securities continue to increase as the CBN raised the monetary policy rate to 16.5% in its last MPC meeting, which translates to higher returns in the fixed-income market.

Specifically, total allocation in FGN securities by the pension industry stood at N9.23 trillion as of the review month, accounting for 63.2% of the total funds. Further checks showed that a sum of N8.84 trillion is being invested in federal government bonds.

In case you missed it: A total of 30,973 RSA holders switched their pension fund administrators in the third quarter of 2022, representing an increase of 109% compared to the 14,821 holders that switched in the previous quarter.

Following the increased competition in the industry, the number of registered PFAs reduced from 22 to 20 as a result of some mergers and acquisitions as the PFAs tried to meet the required minimum regulatory capital of N5 billion which was increased from N1 billion by the Nigerian Pension Commission.

Additionally, the total pension fund gained N156.74 billion in Q3 2022 to stand at N14.42 trillion as of September 2022.

Meanwhile, First Guarantee Pension led the list of best-performing PFAs in Q3 2022 with an average ROI of 2.38% followed by Premium Pensions and Veritas Glanvills Pensions with 2.06% and 2.01% average returns respectively.