By NGOZI Onyeakusi

 

L-R: Customer Relationship Manager, IEI Anchor Pensions, Mr. Kelly Etaifo; Head, Business Development & Strategy, Jolaade Oduntan and Manager For Lagos, Amina James Louis at 2016 NAIPCO meeting held in Lagos.

The Managing Director, IEI Anchor Pensions Limited, Glory Etaduovie has disclosed that Assets under firms management is currently about N62 billion.
Etaduovie, who was represented by Head, Business Development & Strategy, Jolaade Oduntan made the disclosure at the 2017 annual general meeting of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) held in Lagos.

Here is his full text of speech at the event.

Gentlemen and ladies of the press, especially of our industry, Appreciate you for your support and partnership in our image building and publicity drive. Thank you for counting us worthy. Even one of your colleagues recognized our efforts and gave us an award.

Our company, IEI ANCHOR PENSION has repositioned for massive growth.
Service delivery has greatly improved. Our Retirees get their payments promptly. Complaints are rare. Regular SMS alerts and email quarterly statements are sent. This is better than hard copy statements, as they at times get lost in transit as no steady post office services or some people lose their jobs and difficult to track. Our website and social media are interactive and customer friendly. So we encourage our contributors to keep updating their information to serve them better. We also have no sanctions from PENCOM.

REFOCUSED AND CLOSER-KNIT MANAGEMENT
We are Just from our half year business review. The results are encouraging. Our staff are refocused. Our management team is much closer and focused than ever before.

STAFF TRAINING
Staff training and retraining is high on our agenda. Quality staff translates to efficient service. Our internal client-ship is enhanced. This reverberates outside. Customer becomes happy. And we remain in good business.

STATISTICS: Our RSA Unit price Is on steady growth, so is our retiree unit price. Our Assets under management is about 62 billion. Our clients’ funds are efficiently invested for best Return on Investment. We also have over 100,000,000 contributors account owners; We are consolidating on our branches and efficient services.

INDUSTRY CHALLENGE AND IGNORANCE ON THE INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES
Ignorance on the activities of the industry is disturbing. Even many of our leaders show this symptoms. They should cherish and grow it. Pension is a social service. The contributory Pensions is pro-government, pro-people. We simply cannot play politics with it.

Pension funds is not a pool of funds that can be accessed easily, as thought by many.
They are individual accounts just like your personal accounts. No one can access more than he can. It took a lot of planning, discipline and diligence to assemble the Pension funds.

75% LUMP SUM PROPOSAL destroys the very essence of pension – a steady income at retirement. This looks exciting on hearing same but not futuristic. Steady pension payment is to both re-settle a retiree into a new life without creating a radical difference, retaining income consistency and considering the length of time one may live, up to 30 years of life after retirement. Children are less dependable as insurance when unemployment and under employment is high.
But, Many who may agitate for the 75% lump sum in the name of business investment or building a house, may lose their money for not being skilled in business. Some may be duped of it. Managing bulk sum is not an easy skill – especially if it looks like your last chance for income at old age. We will all get there. Aging is the alternative to dying. We must not forget. Building a house should really not be with pen

It must be emphasized that the common complaints of delayed payments are not from the PFAs but the effects of transition from the old scheme to the new one. The Government is making efforts to pay up the accumulation of the old scheme to update the individual retiree accounts. Hence, a lot of emphasis on using the Paris club fund for Pensions and salaries arrears.

Pension business takes care of an important part of life when everything is looking down. It is a social service. It must be protected not destroyed. All of us will get there some day.

IEI ANCHOR FOCUS
We are a small but nimble and responsive customer efficient company aiming GLOBAL standards. We are building an elite firm, a PFA of repute in a few years. We are working the talk, to create trust and dependability which is one of our core values. Dependability and trust are earned from a trusted consistency – a culture of excellence, care and commitment to service.

MICRO PENSION
This scheme is targeted at the individual entrepreneurs and self-employed people. Usually described as the informal sector, with no access to the formal structure of employer/employee pension plan. This sector is largely untapped, and represents about 70% of our populace. Professionals like lawyers, Actors and Actresses are a part of it. So, it cannot be denigrated on. It has upper and lower ends. We are positioned to explore this deeply.

Thank you.

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