Trustfund lauds introduction of pension multi-fund structure 

The introduction of multi-fund structure has widened investment opportunities in the pension industry and offer investment freedom to workers, Trustfund Pensions Limited said. 

Speaking at the 2018 edition of employers’ interactive session in Abuja, the Managing Director of Trustfund Pensions, Mrs Helen Da-Souza, who was represented by the Chief Compliance Officer of Trustfund, Rachael Osa Obi, explained that the new structure allows higher risk taking that will deliver greater investment returns to pension contributors. 

Her explanation: “The multi-fund structure is new introduction in the industry.

The essence of multi-fund structure is to categorise funds according to age and risk appetite.

“There are four categories of multi-fund structure. Category four is for retirees’ investments that do not involve a lot of risks because of the age of the people in this category.

Fund three is for those who are fifty and above while fund two is the default fund that warehouses all the workers.

But fund one is for younger workers who are just entering the labour force and have high-risk appetite.

The fund one will yield more investment returns because of the kind of investment we are allowed to do.

To be in fund one is not automatic. Workers have to apply to their Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) to move.

The category of people that can be in fund one are those who are below 50.

“With this multi-fund approach, the PFAs are allowed to play in more sectors of the economy.

Just as the risks are high, so is the return on investment. This gives freedom to pension contributors to decide where they want to invest.”

She also decried lack of due diligence by Pension Desk Officers (PDOs) whose lackadaisical attitude often leads to gaps in fund remittances.