The insurance industry life annuity fund portfolio now stands at N322.91bn as of the end of June, 2019, the National Insurance Commission has said.

It stated that this represented a growth of 17.46 per cent over the N274.91bn recorded December 31, 2018.

Within the same period under focus, the cumulative total RLA payouts stood at N122.094bn as of the end of June 2019.

NAICOM stated, “The RLA market has been in existence since the advent of the Contributory Pension Scheme.

“The RLA portfolio so far has recorded 73,554 contracts purchased for a total premium of N341.61bn as of the end of Q2, 2019.

“This depicts 13.02 per cent and 6.21 per cent growth in count and volume, respectively in 2019 from end of Q4, 2018.”

The National Pension Commission stated in its second quarter report that it approved a total of 2,941 applications for retirement under life annuity during the quarter, bringing the total number of retirees receiving their retirement benefits through the annuity plan to 68,857 from inception.

It stated, “The 2,941 retirees received N4.68bn as lump sum payment and paid premium of N17.53bn to insurance companies and monthly annuity of N184.50m.

“This resulted in total lumps sum payment of N91.28bn, premium of N371.21bn and monthly annuity payments of N3.70bn as of the end of second quarter, 2019.”