NSSF acquires new licence, braces for liberalisation of the pension sector

NSSF chairman Ivan Kyayonka (2nd R) chats with Mr Elly Karuhanga (R), Tullow General Manager Jimmy Mugerwa (L) and Ms Olive Lumonya , the NSSF head of Marketing and Communication, at the general meeting in Kampala yesterday. PHOTO BY Faiswal Kasirye 

 

By ISMAIL MUSA LADU

Kampala

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) yesterday secured a license that will allow it to continue operating as a retirement benefits scheme and also come up with products that will attract workers in the informal sector to save with the Fund.

The license, which was handed over to the Fund’s managing director, Mr Richard Byarugaba, by the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA) board chairperson, Mr Andrew Kasirye, will also give the social security provider an edge over other players, pending the liberalisation of the sector.

“With the license, we are going to be more innovative and reach more people. We are going to look at products with a lot of health benefits, including providing maternity benefits as well,” Mr Byarugaba told journalists.

NSSF has previously been limited by the law in terms of innovation and approach to new products.
Initially, the law provided benefits to those who had reached retirement age of 55, those incapacitated, and when the bread winner, dies.

Others are; when a contributor is leaving a country, when a beneficiary reaches the age of 50 and is out of employment for at least a year, and when one joins the public service. According to Mr Byarugaba, the issuance of the license to NSSF is a testimony that the regulatory authority has demonstrated confidence in the Fund and the way it is managed.

Mr Kasirye said part of the regulator’s responsibility is to help the Fund transit smoothly into the new competitive environment where it will be expected to outsource, among others, its fund management role and custodianship responsibilities.

Mr Byarugaba said all had already been done, save for administration of the Fund, who he said they would love to keep. The licensing comes at the backdrop of NSSF’s impressive performance made in the last Financial Year, during which the Fund grew to Shs3.1 trillion