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28.07.2016 Social News

Monitoring of pension funds is a priority - Mrs Akrofi

28.07.2016 LISTEN
By GNA

By Afedzi Abdullah, GNA
Cape Coast, July 28, GNA - Mrs Rosina Akrofi, Assistant Corporate Affairs Manager of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), has assured workers in the informal sector of an effective management of their 3- Tier pension scheme funds.

She said the Authority had put in place stringent measures to constantly monitor and supervise the activities of the trustees and other service providers to ensure the safety of their funds.

Her assurance comes at a time when some individuals in the sector are constantly being swindled by the trustees and some financial institutions.

Mrs Akrofi she said this when responding to a question on the safety of the 3- Tier pension scheme funds at a day's outreach programme for the informal sector workers in the Central Region.

The event, held to increase awareness of the scheme, was attended by participants comprising hairdressers, mechanics, dressmakers and members of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD).

The NPRA under the National Pensions Act, 2008(Act 766) has been implementing the contributory 3- Tier pension scheme which comprises two mandatory schemes and a voluntary scheme since January 2010.

She said the trustees did not work in isolation but with fund managers and custodians which were the banks and that after signing the clients onto the policy, they directed them to pay their contribution to the banks.

She said the policy had been designed with their old age in mind and stressed the need for them to take advantage of the scheme to secure their future.

The fund was backed by Government and guided by Act 766 which elaborates on how the scheme should be operated and the corporate trustees were only administrators who give expertise advice to potential policy holders on how to invest their money.

Mr Emmanuel Dagbanu, Education and Training Manager of NPRA, said the 3-Tier scheme would even provide additional funds for workers in the formal sector who want to make voluntary contributions to enhance their pension benefits as well as various workers in the informal sector.

He said the scheme was supported by tax benefit incentives and urged workers in the informal sector to enroll onto the scheme.

He said special provision has been made in the third-tier voluntary personal pension scheme of the 3 -Tier pension scheme, to cater for the peculiar needs of workers in the informal sector of the economy who constitute about 80 percent of workers in the country when they begin retirement.

GNA

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