Nigerian Pension Fund Assets Rise, PFAs Exit Treasury Bills
At the end of the first quarter of the financial year 2022, total pension fund assets inched higher to N13.878 trillion, up N113.750 billion from N13.764 trillion in February 2022, data from National Pension Commission (Pencom) shows.
This shows a growing pension book when compared with the asset position in the financial year 2021. At the end of 2021, pension fund assets had printed at N13.42 trillion, according to data from the regulator.
The amount comprised N9.47 trillion in a retirement savings account (RSA) Active Funds; N1.07 trillion in RSA Retiree Fund IV; N1.52 trillion in CPFAs; N1.35 trillion in Approved Existing Schemes (AES) Funds and N16.13 billion for RSA Fund VI, Active and Retiree.
Pension Fund Assets were mainly invested in Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) Securities, accounting for 65.35% of total pension assets as of the year-end 2021. READ: PFAs Reduce T-Bills Holdings, Pump Funds into Banks, Stocks
The composition of investments in FGN Securities were FGN Bonds: 94.90%; Treasury Bills: 2.91%; while Agency, Sukuk and Green Bonds accounted for about 2.19%.
In March, data shows that about 61.3% of the pension fund was invested in Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) securities, a decline when compared with N8.507 trillion invested in February.
In particular, pension managers increased buying interest in FGN bonds in March with total investment at N8.152 trillion, from N8.132 billion in February 2022. Increased demand for FGN Bonds in the period caused the average yield to slow down, according to fixed income market trading data.
Pension Fund Administrators left the treasury bills space as the total amount invested in the space dropped to N152.884 billion from N173.970 billion in February as managers adjusted portfolios.
Also, there was a decline in the total amount invested in Sukuk but managers channelled more funds into green bonds in March. Meanwhile, investment in state securities inched up from the previous month to N171.587 billion from N168.810 billion a month earlier.
Local money market securities attracted N2.249 trillion of the total pension assets in the period. Out of the total, banks placement was N2.145 trillion. This was followed by investment in corporate debt securities while shares purchased in the Nigerian equity market was valued at N944 billion.
In a report, the pension regulator said the total pension contributions remitted to individual RSAs in Q4 2021 stood at N208 billion. Out of this total, the public sector accounted for N107.78 billion or 51.82% while the private sector contributed N101.71 billion or 48.12%.
The cumulative pension contributions from inception to the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 amounted to N7.58 trillion, which is an increase from N7.37 trillion at the end of Q3 2021
Pencom said in a report that aggregate pension contributions of the public sector increased from N3.65 trillion to N3.82 trillion as of the end of Q3 2021. Similarly, the aggregate pension contributions of the private sector also increased from N3.46 trillion to N3.56 trillion as of Q3 2021. #Nigerian Pension Fund Assets Rise, PFAs Exit Treasury Bills
