National Pension Commission has expressed readiness to invest in alternative asset class and construction fund which currently has less than one per cent of the N17.65tr asset under management but its constrained by non availability of investment windows in the economy.
PenCom expectation for more investment windows was disclosed by Ehimeme Ohioma Head Investment Supervision Department, who represented the Commission Director General Aisha Dahir-Umar, at a recent Media Parley for pension journalists in Lagos, and he expressed the Commission’s readiness to accommodate more investment windows if the conditions are met.
Practically, he said pension funds should earn real returns on investments and a viable option to get returns on the assets he admitted, is the alternative asset class and construction funds, but he asks, Do we have them available?
Ohioma said there has been a persistent challenge in the availability of products to invest in as defined by the PRA 14; he remarked that the paucity of investment windows meant that pension funds that should have been invested in these outlets would remain and invested elsewhere as determined by the Act. He categorically cleared that PenCom creating the products is outside the purview of the Commission, instead, he said the money market and the financial sector have the mandate by law to create those products to invest in.
He cleared that the challenge of creating products has made the Commission and the financial sector and the money market to engage “to ensure that we have good product for pension funds to invest in.”
“Going forward we as an industry is looking at having more investible options for pension funds in alternative asset class to be able to earn real returns on investments.
