Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers assets hit N2t

Eric Fajemisin, the Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited, says the company has recorded close to N2 trillion in assets in the last 10 years.
Fajemisin, who said this at a news conference in Lagos on Friday, noted that the company’s shareholders funds were in excess of N14.5 billion.
Fajemisin added that the company had emerged as the country’s largest PFA in terms of clients.
He said that the company had generated 11 per cent interest for its clients in the last 10 years.
He said: “Pension assets are not for a very risky investment, we don’t take unnecessary risk.
“We are committed to transparency, safety and liquidity.”
He said that 80 per cent of the company’s assets allocation was in the fixed income Federal Government bonds.
Fajemisin added that the company would continue to set higher standards of service delivery and ensure that retirement savings account holders derived maximum value from their contributions.
According to him, the company will continue to broaden and enhance its service channels to ensure efficient service delivery.
On micro pension scheme, Fajemisin said the scheme was designed to cover more than 70 per cent of Nigeria’s working population in the informal sector.
He noted that the scheme covers jobs that lacked formal employer-employee relationships.
According to him, the scheme is a long-term voluntary financial plan for people with irregular stream of income.
Fajemisin said that the company would commence market sensitisation of the scheme in the first quarter of 2017 with the aim of bringing everybody on-board the pension scheme, especially those with irregular income flow.
On the Federal Government’s call for use of pension funds for developmental purpose, he said pension funds were not developmental funds.
He stated that pension funds were for retirements and not meant for infrastructure investment.
“The call is unfortunate as about 80 per cent of the money are in government bonds and already available to government for use,” Fajemisin said.
Also speaking, Oladele Sotubo, SIPML Executive Director, Investments, said about 11 per cent of the company’s assets were invested in the equities owing to current market realities.
Sotubo said that protection of assets was very critical to the company as well as quality of stock.
He stated that the nation’s bourse had not witnessed quality listing in the last four years, noting that the company only invests in quality stocks.
Steve Elusope, the company’s Executive Director Operations, said there were untapped opportunities in pension funds management services.
Elusope said that the industry could play an important role in the nation’s economy in spite of the present recession if well developed.
He said that poor adoption of pension scheme in the country remained a major threat to economic growth and development.