The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has revoked the operating licences of Citi Trust Pension Managers Limited and IGI Pension Fund Managers Limited over their inability to meet the new minimum capitalisation of N1 billion required to operate as a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) in the country.
PenCom, however, assured the public, particularly the contributors of the two PFAs of the safety of their pension fund assets which are in the custody of Pension Fund Custodians licenced and strictly supervised by the Commission in accordance with the PRA 2004.
The Commission said it has issued 28 days notice of its intention to revoke the operating licences of the two PFAs pursuant to the provisions of Section 54 of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004.
PenCom, in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, revealed that six PFAs already had capital bases of N1 billion and above before the commencement of the recapitalisation exercise in May 2011.
The six PFAs include ARM Pension Managers (PFA) Limited, Leadway Pensure PFA Limited, Premium Pension Limited, Sigma Pensions Limited, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited and Trustfund Pensions Plc.
The statement signed by PenCom’s Head, Communications Unit, Emeka Onuora noted that the 12 PFAs met the minimum capital requirement ahead of the June 30, 2012 deadline are subject to capital verification.
These include Aiico Pension Managers, APT Pension Fund Managers, Crusader Sterling Pensions, Fidelity Pension Managers, future Unity Glanvills Pensions, and IEI-Anchor Pension Managers.
Others are NLPC Pension Fund Administrators, Legacy Pension Managers, Oak Pensions, Pensions Alliance, Penman Pensions and Royal Trust Pension Fund Administrator Limited.
According to the statement, three PFAs that had their pension assets acquired by other operators include Amana Capital Pension Limited acquired by Sigma Pensions, Crib Pension Fund Managers Limited acquired by Oak Pension and Evergreen Pensions Limited also acquired by Oak Pension Limited.
The last PFA to make up the 24 operators at the commencement of the exercise is First Guarantee Pension Limited which has been under regulatory intervention of PenCom, a matter currently before the court of law.
The Commission, on May 31, 2011 stipulated a minimum shareholders’ fund of N1 billion unimpaired by losses for PFAs and also prescribed a deadline of 30 June, 2012 for compliance.
The prescription of the N1 billion under the circular was to improve the business processes and service delivery of the PFAs. Furthermore, it was envisaged that the new minimum capital requirement would encourage healthy mergers which would ultimately promote stability in the pension industry.
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