The assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme rose by N1.68tn from N13.76tn as of the end of February 2022 to N15.45tn as of the end of February 2023.

PenCom disclosed this in its unaudited report on the pension funds industry portfolio for the period ended February 28, 2023.

The data provided information on the approved existing schemes, Closed Pension Fund Administrators and Retirement Savings Funds (including unremitted contributions at the Central Bank of Nigeria and legacy funds).

According to the report, the number of Retirement Savings Accounts stood at 9,919,281 in the period under review

Speaking on how the industry fared in 2022, the Director-General, PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar, said despite the overwhelming head-winds in the global economic climate and the country’s challenging macroeconomic environment, the pension fund assets under management increased by N568.33bn from N14.42tn as of 30 September 2022 to N14.99tn as of 31 December 2022.

She said the performance in the growth of the AuM pointed to the fact that the pension industry would continue to deliver value and benefit to its stakeholders and the nation’s economy.

During the reporting period, she said PenCom stepped up its efforts to ensure sustainable investment of pension funds in alternative asset classes and structured infrastructure projects that met the strict requirements of the pension fund investments regulation.

“We continued our efforts to ensure further diversification of investments in pension fund portfolio assets,” she said.

While rising inflation continued to challenge the Nigerian economy, she noted that efforts were being made to ensure average annual pension fund returns for RSA and legacy funds exceeded headline inflation.