Non-compliance by companies affecting pension administration services —NICO Pension
NICO Pension, a subsidiary of Malawi’s leading financial service provider, NICO Life has expressed concerned that non-compliance by some companies to submit their employees’ contributions is affecting the pension administration services.
General Manager for NICO Pension, Gerald Chima said this on Wednesday at Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre during the opening of a two-day ‘NICO Pension Services Seminar’ which engaged all NICO Pension members into a special interaction.
The event was also a platform for the company to give an opportunity to the employers in order to discuss and hear their concerns and to also brief them in terms of how the company manages its pensions as well as how their money is invested.
Chima disclosed that while the company is proud that it is making strides, there are also a number of challenges being faced by the service.
According to Chima, since the implementation of Pension Act in 2011 the performance has been impressive as the number of employers have been increasing each and every year.
However, Chima said, though there is an increase in numbers, their
main challenge is that they have some employers who are not complying in submitting contributions on time and even not paying.
“As a company, we are very concerned with such development,” China said. “Therefore, we’ve taken a step to make sure we deal with all the gaps which are affecting the process for managing the pension.”
He added that they have discovered that all these problems are happening due to lack of proper information.
“We have a special NICO Pension team now which is ready to go out and meet members to go and do presentation sessions about all things around pension administrations.”
He also said this was all because their main target is to maintain the existing relationship by equipping the employers with knowledge so that they can really understand and realise the benefits of NICO Pension.
One of the NICO Pension clients, Joseph Mickson Msambo — who is a headmaster of St. Charles Lwanga Secondary School in Balaka — hailed the pension scheme which he said has reduced the burden that the school used to have in paying gratuity and other payments.
Over 100 NICO Pension clients from the Southern Region attended the seminar.
Another clients engagement seminar which NICO Pension was on Thursday at Sunbird Ku Chawe in Zomba, which also impressed the participants, saying it was fruitful and an eye opener.
Speaking in an interview during the closing ceremony, one of the clients
Kotie Koning, who is the treasurer administrator of Liebenzell Mission in Mangochi, applauded the initiative, saying it has updated them on the developments taking place at the company through an interface atmosphere compared to getting feedbacks on the phone or emails.
“We are very much appreciative of this meeting because it has shown that the company really values their clients.
“It is our hope and expectation that they will continue engaging us in such seminars so that we should always have clear information and follow the pension rules accordingly,” Koning said.
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