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Chuks Udo Okonta
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has cleared Custodian Life Limited to sell annuity, which now brings the number of life insurers given approval to four.
Inspen had last week exclusively reported that FBNInsurance Limited; Leadway Assurance and ARM Life were cleared after they met the requirements for the business.
It was gathered that the firms received the approval after they signed the service agreement and transferred their annuity funds to Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs).
A reliable source told this medium that PenCom would continue to certified the firms as they comply with the new rules.
Recall that PenCom and the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) had agreed to issue a joint guideline.
“Both NAICOM and PenCom are currently reviewing the Regulation on Retiree Life Annuity which will be jointly released to the public in compliance with the PRA 2014 within 3 months of this notice. In the meantime, the following shall apply,” a joint circular by the regulators said.
The former Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC) Rotimi Adekunle Hussain, has considered the mandate given to Life Insurers to transfer over N167.84 billion annuity fund belonging to about 34,312 annuitants, as blessing to the insurance industry,
He believes the current arrangement would correct the public perception that insurers have full autonomy over annuity and build public confidence, hence, attracting more people into buying annuity and growing the fund.
He noted that the domicile of annuity fund with PFCs would also stemmed the demarketing of annuity as it would provide a level playing field for insurers and Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), stressing that the arrangement would lead to safety of pension funds.
He maintained that the confidence to be achieved through the new arrangement, will help attract the private sector to annuity business, hence, enhancing the insurance market share.
