PENCOM: Compliance officers urged to uphold ethical standards

Compliance officers of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) have been urged to uphold excellent and ethical standards in the discharge their statutory roles of monitoring and reporting of non-compliance of Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).

The Acting Director General of PenCom, Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, who gave the charge on Monday at the 6th session of the Compliance Officers Forum (COF) in Uyo, said it is imperative that Compliance Officers discharge their statutory roles with the required professionalism, independence and integrity.

According to her, “In an effort to promote a stable and sustainable pension industry, the Commission adopted zero tolerance for non-compliance and consultative supervisory philosophy in the issuance of guidelines and the review of existing ones to further promote sound corporate governance in the industry and ensure the security of the pension assets.

“In addition, the Commission has this year moved to a more risk based approach to supervising pension operators by aligning its supervisory framework with that of the Financial Services Regulation Coordinating Committee (FSRCC). We believe this will promote better risk management in licensed pension operators.”

Read Also: PENCOM sensitises on micro-pension

She further added that: “The Commission recently released the framework and guidelines for the implementation of the Micro Pension Scheme, which is targeted at increased participation of employees in the informal sector, Multi-fund structure and revised guideline for Fund Accounting as well as revised Circular for Branch opening and Service Centre by PFAs.

“Similarly, Circulars on pension enhancement and processing procedures of deceased benefits entitlement were also released by the Commission.

“The monitoring and reporting of non-compliance with regards to the implementation of these guidelines and other existing regulations remains part of the responsibilities of the Compliance Officers.”

The forum focused on reviewing compliance and ethical culture; institutionalization of Know Your Customer (KYC) processes in the industry; matters of identity theft in data capturing; emerging risks and its mitigating factors as well as other general industry operational issues