Nigeria: Pension Fund Assets Surge to N19.531 Trillion as of January 2024 – PenCom

Data released by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) indicates that Nigeria’s pension fund assets soared to N19.531 trillion as of January 31, 2024.

This figure reflects a notable increase of approximately 6.40% compared to the N18.356 trillion reported as the net asset value in December 2023. The details were disclosed in PenCom’s monthly report for January 2024, which was made public.

Portfolio Allocation: In January, the total pension fund net asset value expanded to N19.531 trillion, up from N18.356 trillion recorded the previous month. Among the portfolio allocations, investments in Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) securities continued to dominate, constituting about N12.13 trillion or 62.15% of the total net asset value (NAV). Additionally, pension funds allocated N2.169 trillion to Corporate Debt Securities and N1.711 trillion to Money Market Instruments. Investments in ordinary shares of local companies surged by 22.92% to N1.931 trillion from N1.571 trillion in December.

Fund Allocation: Fund II, the default Retirement Savings Account (RSA) Fund under the Multi-Fund Structure, retained the largest share of the Active RSA Funds allocation, amounting to N8.155 trillion or 42% of the total fund NAV. Fund III also saw a 2.27% increase from N4.942 trillion to N5.054 trillion, maintaining its position as the second-highest fund allocation. Meanwhile, RSA membership for January 2024 rose by 0.32% to 10,223,672 from 10,191,400 members in December 2023.

Analysis: Pension fund assets have experienced significant growth, rising from N14.9 trillion in December 2022 to N19.5 trillion, marking a remarkable increase of N4.6 trillion or 30.87%. In contrast, between 2021 and 2022, pension fund assets grew by just N1.57 trillion from N13.42 trillion to N14.99 trillion. This surge is likely attributed to a combination of increased pension fund contributions and a rise in portfolio values. Notably, the net asset values of FGN Securities climbed from N9.64 trillion in 2022 to N11.83 trillion as of January 2024.