THE National Pension Commission has announced that the window for the transfer of Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) will open on Monday 16, 2020, when the RSA Transfer Scheme will officially be launched.
According to PenCom in a press release entitled; “Official Launch of the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) Transfer System,” and signed by Management, arrangements have been concluded for the take-off of RSA transfers in a window that will allow RSA holders to move their accounts from one Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) to another once in a year, in line with Section 13 of the Pension Reform Act 2014.
“Prior to this launch, the Commission had successfully developed the RSA Transfer Application, a robust electronic platform that would enable seamless RSA transfers. In addition, the Commission had concluded extensive workshops for licensed Pension Operators and State Pension Bureaus in readiness for this epoch-making even.
“The activation of the RSA transfer process will engender competition and improve service delivery in the pension industry, while asserting the right of RSA holders to determine which PFA manages their pension contributions and retirement benefits,” PenCom stated.
While PenCom and indeed retirement savings account holders have both looked forward for the activation of the transfer window since the commencement of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), this had not been possible until recently when the Commission set a deadline of the last quarter of this year in line with the provisions of Section 13 of the Pension Reform Act 2014.
The section states: “Subject to guidelines issued by the Commission, a holder of a retirement savings account maintained under this Act may not, more than once in a year, transfer his account from one Pension Fund Administrator to another”.
According to PenCom, a prerequisite for transfer of account from one PFA to another is based on the completion of a data recapture exercise (DRE) which the Commission introduced in August 2019 “in order to obtain complete, accurate and current data of all Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders (both active and retired).” The data recapture exercise is ongoing for RSA holders who registered before 1st July 2019.
