New Islamic pension fund in Nigeria to launch before June, says industry body

Published 21 Apr,2021 via The Nation - The new pension Sharia Fund may be launched in the first half of the year, the President, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, Mr. Wale Odutola, has said.

Odutola told The Nation that work was ongoing on the fund (PenOp), which will be Sharia compliant.

He said the Sharia Fund, which will be Fund Six under the Multi-Fund structure introduced by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) is coming after Fund Five, the Micro Pension Scheme.

He explained that Multi-Fund structure was designed to match age and risk profile to one of four distinct Retirement Savings Account (RSA) funds.

He said: “These include three RSA Fund types for active contributors and one Retiree Fund for retired contributors. Membership of funds 1 to 3 is restricted to contributors in the formal sector only. The commission also introduced the Micro Pension Scheme fund type.

“The fund is similar to Islamic banking products in the banking industry and Takaful Insurance product in the insurance industry.

“When the fund is launched, it will be a positive development for the pension industry. There are few Muslims that are particular about how they invest and what they invest their monies into and this product woill be very good for them.

He said the investment channels have to be areas that are acceptable with their fate.”

He added that the exposure to variable income instruments under the Multi-Fund structure is the sum of a Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) investments in Ordinary Shares and participation units of Open Close-ended and Hybrid Funds; Real Estate Investment Trust; Infrastructure Funds; and Private Equity Funds comprising its holdings and any future financial commitments to the acquisition of participation units in these Funds.

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