The Pension Asset Under Management(AUM) of IEI-Anchor Pension Managers Limited rose to N109 billion in its 2019 financial year, leaping by 18.6 per cent from N92.9 billion it was in 2018 financial year.

The Pension Fund Administrator(PFA) equally generated 7,965 Retirement Savings Account(RSA) Personal Identification Numbers(PINs) in 2019.

Addressing Shareholders at the 2019 Annual General Meeting held virtually, the Chairman, Senator Rufai Hanga, said, he is optimistic that the coming year will usher in new vistas for the further growth of IEI-Anchor Pension Managers Limited, adding that, the company is gearing towards leveraging on the exercise to increase our Asset Under Management(AUM) while exerting no lesser effort to maintain its existing clients.

“The industry ratings on our funds have also risen. Out of the 22 Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) we were the 8th in ranking on RSA Fund I, 2nd in Fund II, 18th in Fund III and 16th in Fund IV, this was as at July,2020. This portends a continuous improvement for the company. I am by this appreciating our management team and urging them to maintain this momentum. We are also expanding our projections to increase our client base,” Hanga pointed out.

Meanwhile, reviewing activities of the previous year Managing Director, Mr. Glory Etaduovie, said that, in the next four years, the company would have doubled its worth and value in terms of Assets under management, size of revenue income, market relevance and acceptability, staff size, job security, efficiency and productivity as well as highly improved industry reputation.

Furthermore, he said: “Information Technology department holds a strategic place in the heart of most organisations today. It is no less so in the pension industry. Our last year’s theme was ‘Inclusion and digitalization’. It underscored the recognition and importance given to it in our growth plan. Information technology department has been enhanced, and is still undergoing transformation for more competitive services. It has been enhanced to the enable data recapture campaign activities and the strongly approaching transfer window.”

A good customers’ service experience, he stressed, is near impossible in modern business without an efficient ICT infrastructure in place, saying, ‘due to the dynamic nature of ICT world, there is still much room for improvement requiring much capital investment.’

On micro pension, he said, the concept remains a very strong business growth potential, although, would require patience, good entry strategies and needed business aggression with clear vision of the task ahead. Stating that, over 60 percent of the country’s population fall under the informal sector and are largely unharnessed, he added that, a deliberate policy and plan would be required to drive this.

“With increasing drive towards medium and small-scale entrepreneurship to absorb our teeming unemployed graduates, it is a direction to give attention, before we become late starters. Lessons are being drawn from second and third tier PFA entrants’ challenges,” he pointed out.

Similarly, he said, transfer window has been delayed due to the need for an efficient industry switching platform, saying, “the potential that about ten million contributors would desire a switch cannot be overlooked. Consequently, the regulator and the Pension fund Administrators have been working to keep pace with all developments. A successful data recapture exercise and veritable ICT is critical to this.”

The transfer window, according to him, will play a key role in the dynamics of the year, noting that,we are working hard to minimise the number of contributors from porting to other PFAs through efficient customer service and experiences.

While appreciating deeply the board of directors’ positive staff policies and implementation disposition, he said: “we still have gaps industry-wise, areas we can get increased support for staff motivation and welfare. Modern firms are run today by Man, Machine and Computer. The most important of these three is the Man, because he is self-engaging, dynamic and critical for results. The quality and motivation of these staff often determine the difference between one organization and the other. Hence the thoughts behind the theme: People, Purpose and Passion”,Etaduovie posited.