Kemi Adeosun, minister of Finance, surely has her hands full. Apart from her regular schedule, she has now taken it upon herself to broker a resolution in the dispute between the National Pension Commission, PenCom, and the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, over a circular issued by PenCom directing life insurance companies to transfer their annuity asset holdings to Pension Fund Custodians, PFCs. The outcome of the meeting was disclosed today in a statement by the director of press, ministry of finance.
The dispute was fanned by a circular issued by PenCom in November last year, directing life insurers to transfer custody of their annuity assets to PFCs and inform the commission accordingly. The insurers were also required by the circular to suspend approving new requests for annuity pending the transfer of assets to PFCs.
At a meeting convened by the minister between Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, director-general PenCom, and Mohammed Kari, chief executive of AICOM, both parties agreed to issue a joint circular by Tuesday, March 21, 2017 that would supersede all previous circulars issued by the two regulatory agencies on the annuity imbroglio.
The minister noted that the Federal Ministry of Finance had received several complaints from pensioners in relation to the outstanding dispute. She drew the attention of both parties to the adverse impact the current situation is having on pensioners and reiterated that a prompt resolution of the matter is paramount.