PenCom wields big stick on defaulting employers withholding CPS
Worried by the huge amount of Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) being withheld by employers of labour in the country, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has began to wield the big stick on defaulting employers of labour in the country withholding employees’ contributory funds to the scheme.
According to the Pension Reform Act, 2014, Part IV on Retirement savings account and remittance of contributions said “the employers shall deduct at source the monthly contribution of the employee, and not later than seven working days from the day the employee is paid his salary; remit an amount comprising the employee’s contribution under paragraph (a) of this subsection and the employer’s contribution to the Pension Fund Custodian specified by the Pension Fund Administrator of the employee.
The Commission backed by the statutory power has gone into agreement with the country’s crime Czar – the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); the commissions task force, the legal system and whistle blowers of employees etc to recover contributions from defaulting employers to the scheme.
As a result, the Commission in it’s report acknowleged that it has recovered a total sum of N1.42 billion as at the end of December 31, 2020 from 79 defaulting employers.
According to the report released by the Commission, this brought the total recoveries made from inception of the exercise in 2012 to 31 December 2020, to N18.27 billion.
According to PenCom the figure represents principal contributions of N9.43 billion and penalties of N8.84 billion.
The Commission added that the amounts recovered had since been credited to the respective RSAs of the employees.
The Commission noted that it will continued to take legal actions to recover pension contributions from twenty-six (26) defaulting employers that failed to remit outstanding pension contributions and penalty as established by the RAs.
The report added that a significant number of employers have initiated the remittance of their outstanding liabilities in response to final demand/pre-action notices served on them by the Commission.
Meanwhile, the Pension Fund Operators (PFOs), which are Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs); Closed Pension Fund Administrators (CPFAs) and Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs) generated a combined earnings of N136.45 billion in 2020.
The report revealed that PFAs generated total earnings of N109.68 billion in the financial year ended 31 December 2020, which indicated an increase of three per cent when compared with the N106.70 billion recorded in 2019.
PenCom noted that the combined operating expenses incurred by the PFAs amounted to N55.20 billion while Profits before Taxes (PBTs) amounted to N54.48 billion, adding that the major source of income for the PFAs was fund management fees, which accounted for over 80 per cent of total Income.
The PFAs recorded a combined Return on Assets of 30.07 per cent and a combined Return on Equity of 35.19 per cent, which indicated that the PFAs sustained their profitability in the year under review.
The six CPFAs generated a total revenue (income and transfers from Sponsors) of N2.68 billion, which was a 7.58 per cent decrease compared to the N2.90 billion generated in 2019, adding that the major source of revenue for the CPFAs were inflows from their sponsor companies, which constituted 55 per cent of their total revenue, while management fees and investment income accounted for 41 per cent and four per cent, respectively.
The CPFAs incurred a total expenditure of N2.74billion and a combined profit of N52.38million in the year ended 31 December, 2020, while operating expenses comprised mainly of staff costs, which accounted for over 69 per cent of operating expenses.
