PENOP partners PenCom on discipline

PENOP partners PenCom on discipline

Chuks Udo Okonta

The Pension Operators Association of Nigeria (PENOP) would work closely with the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to ensure operators adhere to ethical practices, its Chairman Dave Uduanu, has said.

He told Inspen that the association would liaise with the regulator to ensure that operators live up to their responsibilities.

He said: “We are moving towards what we call Self Regulatory Organisation (SRO). However, it is important to make the point that though we can intervene, we do not have the powers to met-out any sanction. It is only PenCom that can do that.

“What we do is to use moral suasion to talk to our members. As the industry matures, PENOP would be a bit more involving to ensure that erring members are brought to book. Even if we do not do it directly, we can do it liaising with PenCom.”

He said the association is committed to the safety of contributors’ funds, adding that very profit made from pension funds investments belongs to the contributors. He said operators are only entitled to management fees of about 2.25 per cent.

 “We need to distinguish between the capital and the fund. The fund belongs to the contributors and the company raise capital to grow the funds. And from the fund, we collect our management fees which belong to the shareholders and are used to run the company. The statutory fee is 2.25 per cent,” he said.

He noted that the need for safety of contributors’ funds necessitated the call for proper guaranty by the government on any projects that pension funds should be invested in.