Nigeria’s total pension fund assets reached a record N13.61 trillion in January 2022, growing by 1.4% from the N13.42 trillion recorded the previous month. This represents an increase of N183.8 billion during the month of review.
This is contained in the unaudited Pension Fund Industry Portfolio Report for the month of January 2022.
According to the report, Nigerian pension fund assets hit their highest level in January as adoption of pension schemes in Nigeria continues to improve. In concrete terms, the total number of RSA registrations rose to 9.55 million, or 13.7% of the total working population.
The improvement recorded in January is 9.2% higher than the N168.29 billion appreciation recorded the previous month, indicating improved activity in the sector.
Breakdown
- The RSA II fund accounted for the bulk of the contribution to the fund with 5.96 trillion naira, or 43.8% of total pension funds.
- RSA Fund III followed with 3.6 trillion naira, representing 26.5% of total assets. Additionally, fund category III increased by N69.58 billion during the review month.
- Meanwhile, investment in corporate debt securities increased by 5.69% month-on-month to reach 997.03 billion naira at the end of January 2022, representing an improvement of 53.69 billion naira compared to the 943.34 billion naira recorded the previous month.
- In the same vein, investments in local monetary securities increased by 259.24 billion naira during the reporting period to 2.28 trillion naira.
In terms of property investment, PFA investment increased slightly by N1.05 billion in January 2022 to N157.84 billion from N156.8 billion recorded in December 2021.
PFAs have increased their investments in the local equity market
Pension fund administrators during the reporting period increased their investments in the local equity market, with more than N960.42 billion invested in the stock exchange, which is N45.12 billion more than the 915.31 billion naira recorded in the previous month.
Their improved investment in the local stock market follows positive market performance, with the All-Share Index gaining 9.15% in January 2022 to close at 46,624.67 points while the market capitalization reached 25.1 trillion. of naira.
On the other hand, PFAs reduced their exposure to the foreign equity market as their investments decreased by 12.01 billion naira to 110.48 billion naira. This is 9.81% less than the 122.49 billion naira recorded at the end of December 2022.
Pass
Recall that Nairametrics had reported that the Nigerian pensions industry reached a milestone in 2021, with total fund assets under management gaining a sum of N1.12 trillion during the year to reach a level then record high of N13.42 trillion.
The report also pointed out that the pension penetration rate in Nigeria rose to 14% after the PFAs recorded 313,339 new contributors the previous year. Meanwhile, in January of the new year alone, the industry reached 7.46% of the total new RSA contributors it registered in the previous year.
