The Ghana National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), on Friday issued a public notice on the implementation of the Three-Tier Pension Scheme.
A statement signed by Mr Richard Kwame Asante, Board Chairman of NPRA, copied to the Ghana News Agency, (GNA) in Accra on Friday, said five guidelines and six application forms had been issued covering Occupational, Provident Fund and Group/Personal Pension Schemes.
“The guidelines and forms will be available at the NPRA’s website(www.npra.gov.gh) as from Monday, March 19, 2012, ” it added.
The statement said the Board had in addition, approved and registered seven banks to operate as Pension Fund Custodians.
These are, Ecobank Ghana Limited, Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic Bank, Cal Bank, Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), HFC Bank and Prudential Bank.
It said nine companies had been approved and licensed to operate as corporate trustees.
These are, Petra Trust Company, Metropolitan Pensions Trust Ghana, Pensions Alliance Trust Company and Providentlife Trust Comapny.
The rest are, Universal Pensions Trust Limited, Secure Pensions Trust Limited, Enterprise Trustees Limited, United Pension Trustees Limited and Axis Pension Trust Limited.
The statement said 29 companies had been approved and registered to operate as Pension Fund Managers.
They are, IC Securities Ghana Limited, Databank Assets Management Service Limited, Prudential Securities Limited and Cidan Investments and Advisory Services Limited, New World Renaissance, EDC Investments Limited, Cal Asset Management Company, Fidelity Securities Limited, HFC Investments Services Limited, IFS Capital Management, Wealth Management Limited and All-Time Capital Limited.
Others are, SDC Brokerage Services Limited, Frontline Capital Advisors Limited, NDK Asset Management Limited, New Generation Investment Services Limited, Stanbic Investment Management Services Limited, Unisecurities Ghana Limited and Chapel Hill Denham Securities Ghana Limited, Gold Coast Securities Limited, SIC Financial Services Limited, EM Capital Partners Limited, CDH Securities, Liberty Capital Ghana Limited and Firstbanc Financial Services Limited.
The rest are, Merban Investment Holdings Limited, SAS Investments Management Limited, GFS Securities Limited and SEM Capital Management Limited.
The statement said NPRA had released the full Implementation timetable for the period Friday, March 16 to Thursday, May 31, 2012 for all stakeholders and the general public on its website.
Parliament in October, 2008 passed the New Pensions Law, which established a contributory three-tier pension scheme to replace the existing social security and CAP 30 schemes.
The NPRA would oversee the admnistration and management of the scheme, which comprises of two mandatory schemes and a voluntary scheme.
The first tier is the mandatory basic national security scheme, which would incorporate an improved system of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) benefits, mandatory for all employees in both the private and public sectors.
The second tier is the occupational (or work-based) pension scheme, mandatory for all employees but privately managed and designed primarily to give contributors higher lump sum benefits than previously available under the SSNIT pension scheme.
The third tier is a voluntary provident fund and personal pension schemes, supported by tax benefit incentives, to provide additional funds for workers, who want to make voluntary contributions to enhance their pension benefits and also for workers in the informal sector.
The first tier basic national social security scheme will be managed by SSNIT which is currently, undergoing restructuring to strengthen its operations.
The mandatory second tier and the voluntzary third tier schemes will be privately-managed by Trustees licensed by NPRA.
Source: GNA
Please i want know, is it compulsory for a company to join the third tie provident fund?
i personnally, like others need to be educated about how someone would be able to get his or her benefit at retirement age. for instance i have contributed for about twenty years before this 3-tier pension scheme, where am i going for bulk sum and is SSNIT going to pay me also or only monthly persion allowance. explain to me please.