Data from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) reveals Nigeria’s pension fund assets rose to N17.07 trillion for the period ended 31st July 2023.

This represents an increase of about 1.85% when compared to the N16.76 trillion that was reported as net asset value in June 2023.

This was contained in the commissions’ monthly report for the month of July 2023.

Details of the report

Portfolio Allocation – According to the report, the total pension fund net asset value rose to N17 trillion in the month of June compared to N16.7 trillion reported a month earlier.

• A closer look at the data reveals investment in FGN securities continues to dominate portfolio allocation with about N11 trillion or 64.7% of total net asset value (NAV).
• Portfolio allocation to FGN Securities was N10.8 trillion in June or 64.6% of total net asset values.
• Pension Funds also allocated N1.8 trillion to Corporate Debt Securities and N1.58 trillion to Money Market Instruments.
• Investments in ordinary shares of local companies rose to N1.338 trillion from N1.268 trillion in June.

Fund Allocation – Fund II, which is the default RSA Fund under the Multi-Fund Structure, maintained the largest share of the Active RSA Funds allocation with N7.3 trillion or 43% of the total fund NAV.

• Fund III also rose from N4.5 trillion to N4.6 trillion maintaining its second position for fund allocation.

Meanwhile, RSA membership for the month of July 2023 rose to 10, 025,314 from 10, 009,049 members in June 2023.

Optics: Pension Funds, Net Asset Values have risen from N14.9 trillion in December 2022 to N17 trillion or a whopping N2.1 trillion increase.

• For context, between 2021 and 2022, Pension Fund Assets rose by just N1.57 trillion from N13.42 trillion to N14.99 trillion
• The rise is likely linked to a combination of a surge in pension fund contributions and a rise in portfolio values.
• For example, FGN Securities has seen its Net Asset Values rise from N9.64 trillion in 2022 to N11 trillion as of July 2023.
• NAV for ordinary shares has also risen from N908 billion in 2022 to N1.13 trillion in July 2023.