NBS: FGN bonds top N8.63 trillion pension funds’ assets

Total pension funds’ assets under management increased to N8.63 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2018 (Q4 2018), compared to N8.32 trillion in Q2, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

FGN bonds accounted for 52.49 per cent or N4.53 trillion of the total pension assets, while treasury bills represented 19.37 per cent or N1.67 trillion of total assets.

According to the Pension Asset and RSA Membership report Q4 2018, released recently by the statistical agency, local money market securities represented 8.21 per cent or N709.14 billion of total assets, while foreign money market securities accounted for the least share of 0.04 per cent or N3.20 billion.

Additionally, participants within the age distribution 30-39 years had the highest percentage composition closely followed by participants within the age bracket of 40-49 years and 50-59 years while participants above 65 years had the least percentage composition. The total value of the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) as at Q4 was N6.58 trillion.

Of the total pension assets, banks, commercial papers and foreign money market securities gulped N709.14 billion.

In total FGN securities accounted for 73.09 per cent of pension fund assets with Green bonds accounting for 0.08 per cent or N7.22 billion, sukuk bonds one per cent or N86.54 billion, Agency bonds 0.13 per cent or N11.56 billion and state government securities 1.61 per cent or N138.71 billion.

Also, domestic ordinary shares accounted for N606.19 billion or 7.02 per cent of pension assets while foreign ordinary shares represented N55.86 billion or 0.65 per cent of total assets.

Total asset under the Closed Pension Fund Administrators (CPFAs) stood at N1.07 trillion, while existing schemes accounted for N977.83 billion.

While bank instruments accounted for N626.33 billion or 7.25 per cent, commercial papers represented N82.80 billion or 0.096 per cent.

Pension investment in FGN securities has remained attractive over time largely because of the fixed guarantees and appreciable returns offered.