'Base PFAs change on performance' - PenCom

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has advised Retirement Savings Account (RSAs) holders wanting to change their Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) through the RSA Transfer System to base their decision on their performance.

Its Director-General, Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, who made this call, stated that to enable RSAs make informed decisions, PenCom has created a special section on the their website for that purpose.

She added that to facilitate RSA holders’ ability to make good choices on service delivery, the commission have expanded its minimum disclosure requirements by providing more statistics on pension industry performance.

The PenCom boss continued that the essential advancement in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) came with the introduction of the RSA Transfer.

She said: “This innovation allows RSA holders to move their accounts from one Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) to another using the Retirement Savings Account Transfer System (RTS) deployed by the National Pension Commission (PenCom). Section 13 of the Pension Reform Act 2014 (PRA 2024) allows RSA holders to transfer their accounts from one PFA to another not more than once a year. The commencement of the RSA transfers marks a significant achievement for PenCom in implementing the CPS.

“PenCom undertook the in-house development and consequent deployment of the Enhanced Contributor Registration System (ECRS) in June 2019, which made it possible to commence the RSA transfers. The ECRS enabled the unique identification of contributors registered on the Commission’s database, a critical requirement for smooth RSA transfers. The development of the RSA Transfer System (RTS) followed the ECRS. As the Application is tagged, the RTS is a unique and robust electronic platform that enables seamless RSA transfers. The Application is used for submitting, processing, and monitoring RSA transfer requests.”

The DG continued: “To initiate an RSA transfer, the RSA holder is not required to go to their Transferring PFA. Instead, the RSA holder should approach the PFA they intend to transfer to (Receiving PFA) and provide their RSA PIN, surname, telephone number and email address. The Receiving PFA will validate the biodata of the RSA holder requesting a transfer.

“Thereafter, the RSA holder’s fingerprint will be captured to authenticate their identity as the final step to conclude the transfer request. The Receiving PFA prints two copies of a confirmation slip, which the RSA holder should sign as proof that they initiated the transfer; finally, the PFA retains a copy of the confirmation slip while a copy is given to the RSA holder.

“RSA transfer requests received through the RTS are batched and processed at the end of every quarter, four times yearly (March, June, September, and December). However, only requests received by the second month of a transfer quarter (February, May, August, and November) are processed within the quarter.

“However, transfer requests received within the third month of a quarter are processed in the next quarter. After a successful RSA transfer, the RSA holder should advise their employer of the new PFA for subsequent remittance of their monthly pension contributions. The RSA holder should also contact their new PFA to ensure that the RSA balance transferred is accurate.”

BEB