312,771 workers changed PFAs, transferred N1.4tn after PenCom opened transfer window
PenCom
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No fewer than 312,771 workers have changed their Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), and transferred their Retirement Savings Accounts worth N1.4tn to their new PFAs under the Contributory Pension Scheme as of the end of third quarter of 2024.
Figures obtained by Dailyeconomy from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) on ‘Quarterly summary of Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) transferred by Pension Fund Administrators’, revealed on Sunday.
The transfer window allows a contributor under the CPS to move all his RSAs from his current PFA to another of his choice once in a year.
According to the figures, 23,226 workers transferred N141.87bn in the third quarter of 2024, while 20,993 workers transferred N128.87bn in the second quarter.
Figures showed that 23,484 and 22,927 workers transferred N120.866bn and N105.763bn in the first quarter of 2024 and fourth quarter of 2023 respectively.
In the third quarter of 2023, 19,014 RSA holders changed their PFAs and moved N85.99bn; 34,359 workers moved N158.6bn in the second quarter of 2023; 24,963 moved N111.67bn in the first quarter of 2023.
The figures disclosed that 2,799 contributors moved N18.9bn in the fourth quarter of 2020; 12,681 contributors moved N47.78bn in the first quarter of 2021; 10,166 moved N35.89bn in the second quarter of 2021; 12,872 contributors moved N45.56bn in the third quarter of 2021; while 12,874 contributors moved N42.49bn in the fourth quarter of 2021.
It added that 12,336 contributors moved N36.36bn in the first quarter of 2022; 14,821 moved N50.22bn in the second quarter of 2022; 30,973 moved N143.1bn in the third quarter of 2022; while 34,283 moved N131.76bn in the fourth quarter of 2022.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, PenCom introduced the transfer window regulation which allowed workers to change their PFAs.
Section 13 of the Pension Reform Act 2014 specifies that a Retirement Savings Account holder may transfer his RSA from one PFA to another.
It added that such transfer should not be more than once a year.
The pension industry regulator stated that PFAs must only process requests for RSA holders registered on the Enhanced Contributor Registration System and those whose recaptured information had been successfully uploaded onto the ECRS.
“PFAs shall only process RSA transfer requests for eligible RSA holders who have not transferred their RSAs within the last 365 days using the RTS, irrespective of whether it is a leap year or not,” it stated.
