The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has introduced a Non-Interest Fund (Fund VI) and issued an operational framework on it to pension contributors and retirees.
The head, corporate communications of PenCom, Peter Aghahowa, made the disclosure in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday in Lagos.
He said the initiative was in furtherance of the implementation of the Multi-Fund Investment Structure, which seeks to provide investment portfolio choices to pension contributors and retirees.
“The Non-Interest Fund is a fund that complies with the provisions of Islamic Commercial Jurisprudence and any other established non-interest principles, as approved by the Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts (FRACE) or any other body constituted by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.
“The FRACE has certified that the operational framework issued by the commission complies with non-interest (Shari’ah) finance principles,” he said.
According to him, all Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) are required to create and maintain the Non-Interest fund for interested Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders.
Mr Aghahowa said that the fund would be separated into two funds for Active RSA holders and Retirees respectively.
“RSA holders in Fund I, II, III and retirees in Fund IV are eligible to move their RSA contributions to the Non-Interest Fund (Fund VI) by making a formal request to the PFA in line with the provisions of the RSA Multi-fund Implementation Guidelines and Section 7.6 of the investment regulation dealing with transfers between fund types within a PFA.
“The Non-Interest Fund offers a viable alternative to the conventional interest-based financial instruments for pension funds investment,” he said.
The commission’s spokesperson said that further information on the non-interest fund could be obtained from the commission’s website at www.pencom.gov.ng and various PFAs.
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