By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has resumed its pension transfer window suspended in April due to the disruptions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic on its operations.
The national pension regulator made the disclosure in Abuja, explaining that the transfer window was created to enable pension contributors who are dissatisfied with the services of their current Pension Fund Administrators to transfer their Retirement Savings account to any Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) of their choice.
PenCom explained that the process, which is line with Section 13 of the Pension Reform Act of 2014, would enable PFAs to slug it out with each other in a competitive market to retain old contributors and as much as possibly win new ones.
The body noted that it had been working tirelessly to ensure that the process takes off but faced headwinds due to the lockdown.
Prior to the commencement, the commission had developed and deployed the Enhanced Contributor Registration System (ECRS) in September 2019.
The statement reads in part, “Section 13 of the Pension Reform Act, 2014 allows Contributors to move their Retirement Savings Account (RSAs) through a transfer window from one Pension Fund Administrator to another, provided that it is not more than once in a year.”
Furthermore, the Commission has developed the RSA Transfer System, a robust electronic platform that would enable seamless RSA transfers. Pension Fund Administrators would be able to utilize the RTS platform for the submission of RSA transfer requests.
“The full deployment of the platform would, however, entail extensive training of the PFA’s relevant personnel and simulation of the processes, industry-wide.
“The commission was unable to carry out these activities as planned due to the nationwide lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
It would be recalled that the pension sector regulator had earlier stated that it remains steadfast in ensuring the implementation of Transfer Window for contributors of the N10.8 trillion pension fund assets as the take-off was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic when it hit earlier this year.
Modupe Gbadeyanka