New Telegraph

Pension assets: Investment in FG securities drops to N8.316trn

Pension assets investment in Federal Government Securities under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) witnessed a slight drop in the month of April as the outlay by Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) declined to N8.316 trillion from N8.506 trillion in the month of March. A breakdown by New Telegraph put the difference in the amount invested within the two months at N190.117 billion, representing 2.23 per cent decline.

A further breakdown also revealed that investment in the securities had increased steadily from the beginning of the year with January recording N8.107 trillion consisting of FGN Bonds, N7.331 trillion Treasury Bills, N670.343 billion; Agency Bonds N12.278 billion; Sukuk, N82.522 billion and Green Bonds, N10,221 billion.

In February, the pension fund managers’ investment increased to N8.132 trillion with investment in FGN Bonds amounting to N7.340 trillion; Treasury Bill, N676.907 billion; Agency Bonds, N11.913 billion; Sukuk, N90.658 billion and Green Bonds, N12.227 billion.

Also, the investment in March increased with over N3 billion from N8.132 trillion to N8.506 trillion with FGN Bonds gulping N7.673 trillion; Treasury Bill, N721.744 billion; Agency Bonds, 12.910 billion; Sukuk, N85.070 billion and Green Bonds, N12.883 billion. For the month of April, the sum invested, however, dropped from N8.506 trillion recorded in March to N8.316 trillion with FGN Bond taking N7.453 trillion; Treasury Bill, N690.429 billion; Agency Bonds, N13.001 billion; Sukuk, N79.314 billion and Green Bonds, N79.814 billion. The total pension assets recently increased by 0.8 per cent monthon- month(MoM), to N12.4 trillion in April 2021 from N12.3 trillion recorded in March 2021.

According to the unaudited report on pension funds indus-try portfolio for the period ended April 30, 2021 released by the National Pension Commission (Pen- Com), the total Retirement Saving Account (RSA) registration rose marginally by 0.3 per cent to 9.33 million from 9.3 million recorded in March. Further analysis of the investment in securities revealed that investments in FGN bonds declined by 2.6 per cent to N7.5 trillion from N7.7 trillion; Treasury Bills investments went down by 4.3 per cent to N690.4 billion from N721.7 billion; investments in agency bond increased by 0.8 per cent to N13 billion from N12.9 billion; investments in Sukuk bonds declined by 6.8 per cent to N79.3 billion from N85.1 billion while investments in green bonds went up by 518.6 per cent to N79.8 billion from N12.9 billion.

Other portfolios that received investment include supra-national bonds; local money market securities (N1.74 trillion), comprising bank placements, commercial papers and foreign money market securities. Other areas are mutual funds (N129,145 million), comprising open/close-end funds, real estate investment trusts, real estate properties, private equity funds, infrastructure funds, cash and other assets; and domestic and foreign ordinary shares. According to the Commission, in terms of the performance of the various fund structures, Fund Five for the period under review stood at N105.54 million as against the N99.10 million recorded in February; Fund Four stood at N976, 897.00 million against N973, 605.77 million it received in February. Also, Fund Three yielded N3, 194,628.31 million as against N3,158,981.52 million recorded in February while Fund Two stood at N5,388,628.31 against N5, 367,002.47 in February. Similarly, Fund One rose slightly to N38, 325.25 in March as against N37, 887.66 million posted the previous month. Director-General of PenCom, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, said the fund is currently invested in varied but quality financial instruments, all tailored towards the development of the Nigerian economy and payment of pensions under the CPS is now seamless, prompt and consistent.

She said PenCom had within the 16 years of the pension reform, been able to positively transform the sector in Nigeria. She listed the Commission’s scorecard to include the licensing of 22 PFAs, seven CPFAs, four PFCs and many approved existing pension schemes in the private sector. The Fund, she added, is currently invested in varied, but quality financial instruments, all tailored towards the development of the Nigerian economy and payment of pensions.

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