The Director General, Lagos State Pension Commission, Mrs Folashade Onanuga has called on Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and life insurers to work together to build a virile pension industry rather than fighting each other in a bid to retain market dominance.
Onanuga, who gave the advice at the 2nd National Conference on Insurance and Pension, organised by the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO), said the competition between the two operators must be healthy in order to build confidence in Pension Reform Act (PRA).
She said: “The competition between the two operators must be healthy, otherwise, the ultimate consumer will lose confidence in the transparency the PRA advocated, as human thinking will suggest that the infighting to gain upper market share, between the two operators means that the product being sold is more to the benefit of the operators than the ultimate consumer. The ultimate consumer will therefore be wary of both products.”
While marketing annuity or programmed withdrawal products, Onanuga said PFAs needed to understand that they don’t have a monopoly over the business, but should rather work with annuity service providers to boost the pension industry.
She advised that the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the PFAs should be able to display the list of annuity service providers on their website while annuity service providers should also be able to display similar list on their website.
“Marketers of both industries need to be sanctioned where they have been accused of de-marketing, whilst sharp practice by any employee aimed at boosting market share should be exposed and appropriate punishment meted out,” she added.
She urged PenCom to organise consultative meetings with the operators under the umbrella of Pension Operators Association of Nigerian (PenOP) as they are pension operators while maintaining their membership of the insurance industry as they also offer other services that do not affect the insurance industry.