PenOp Assures On Ban On Open Market Operations

L-R: Head, of Branding and Communications, PenOp, Wale Odutola; President of PenOp, Mrs. Aderonke Adedeji; Head Corporate Communications, National Pension Commission (PenCom) Mr. Peter Aghahowa at the 2019 PenOp Annual Media Seminar held on recently in Lagos. 

By LOVETH AZODO, Lagos

Pension Fund Operators have assured that the recent ban on individual and local firms from investing in both primary and secondary Open Market Operations (OMO) auctions will not have much effect on pension funds.

Both pension sector operators under the aegis of Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) and the sector’s regulator PENCOM at a recent media retreat organised in Lagos said that contributors need not to worry over the recent development assuring that the PFA managers are experts in investment management, therefore are in better position to find alternative investment portfolios that will also yield handsome returns.

Head Corporate Communications, National Pension Commission (PENCOM), Mr. Peter Aghahowa stated that PFAs are trusted professionals in investing funds “when one outlet closes there are several other outlets in line with the investment guidelines laid out there, so really this is where professionalism comes to play and that’s the difference. So we don’t think this is a problem.”

“The investment department of PFAs are professionals, we believe there is capacity to ensure we get fair returns because that is the essence, to expect returns at the end of the day.”

Also speaking, the president of PenOp, Mrs. Aderonke Adedeji reiterated the primary purpose of OMO autions “We should remember that this is an instrument Central Bank uses to manage the economy and they don’t always use it, it is just that we have enjoyed access to this market in recent times, there are periods when we do not have access to this market they were not even there, no OMO transactions so I don’t know why we are reacting but the fact is that they are Central Bank instrument, they are using it to manage the economy.

“It’s just that we were enjoying something before that we don’t want to let go, so naturally we will react, yes it is going to affect us in that our returns won’t be as high but we will go back to other investments. They are doing what they are supposed to do,” she said.

On Micro Pension Scheme she said “Like anything that is new it will need re-thinking, reworking, evaluating and analyzing, yes we have not done as expected but we are growing gradually so let’s see how things go, let’s study it a bit more and see why it hasn’t been yeilding as expected, let’s give it time before we start talking about changing approach.”