UNICOF members educated on new pension scheme
More than 25 members of the Union of Industry, Commerce and Finance Workers have been educated on the new three-tier pension scheme.
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Members of the union from Merchant Bank, SIC Life, ARB Apex Bank and Ghana Commercial Bank were educated on the migration of provident funds to the three-tier scheme and how unions should implement or manage their funds.
While the first-tier basic national social security is managed by a restructured SSNIT, the second-tier mandatory occupational scheme and the third-tier voluntary scheme are privately managed by approved trustees licensed by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority.
The trustees are assisted by the Pensions Funds Manager and Custodians who have been licensed by the Securities Exchange Commission and registered subsequently by the National Pension Authority.
The Legal and Management Consultant, Samuel Ansah Ayisi ,who schooled the participants said till date some employers had not registered their employee schemes with corporate trustees and questioned whether it was as a result of delays from the NPRA.
He wondered what would happen to the portion that was usually paid as lump sum by the SSNIT to contributors on retirement for those moving to private trustees.
Meanwhile, some members of the UNICOF are calling for the strengthening of the regulatory and monitoring activities of the new pension scheme.
The Union Chairman of the Merchant Bank, Mr Samuel Omane Quaye, said “the regulatory and monitoring aspects should be improved. You know in this country we make a lot of laws but we have no ideas and their implementation and the monitoring become issues.”
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He expressed the hope that the training programme would be repeated to enable many staff members to be well educated.
Madam Beatrice Korsah-Brown of SIC Life urged the NPA to address the loopholes in the new pension scheme.
Mr Daniel Boyetey of SIC General also said the three-tier pension scheme was better than the old scheme, adding, for now “I won’t say we have anything which is a gap”.
The new pension scheme was established as a contributory three-tier pension - the first, second and the third tiers to, among others, provide pension benefits that will ensure retirement income security for workers.