URBRA’s Andrew Kasirye
The Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA) board chairman, Andrew Kasirye, has played down the fears especially by workers in the evening of their careers of the pensions liberalisation process.
The pension sector is undergoing reforms under a two-fold process. The first process was the enactment of Uganda Retirements Benefits Regulatory Act assented to by the President in June 2011 and gazette, making it law.
Parliament is expected to pass another law, the Retirement Benefits Sector Liberalisation Bill 2011 that will liberalise the pensions sector and usher in a new regime of a competitive pensions sector.
But workers are wary that the process could hurt their savings.
“When people start saving for pensions, it is not something you are going to draw on after three years,” said Kasirye.
He explained that the new liberalisation law will have many long-term benefits for savers and the economy by unleashing the huge investment opportunity that the pension sector provides.
“But people who are about to retire are now worried. For the people who have been working for the last 25 years, why would the Government bring a law that will delay when you can get your pension? That is not what the law will do,” said Kasirye.
He said the authority is going to increase publicity on the proposed reforms to wipe out misconceptions.
“We are going to start a weekly column in the New Vision to disabuse the minds of Ugandans about the retirements and pensions, so that they stop thinking that the Government is trying to steal their money,” he said.
“The reforms are coming to empower them and change from the culture of buying nice cars and going for holidays and start saving for the time when you no longer have the same revenue streams.”
Kasirye made the remarks at Kenya Commercial Bank- Uganda’s launch of custody and trusteeship services in Kampala recently.
KCB Uganda board chairman Samwri Njuki said the reforms will be crucial in the growth of the Ugandan economy.
“The amount that is in pension funds in Kenya is staggering. Kenyans use the funds to grow the economy. Over here in Uganda, we use commercial funds, and no wonder everyone is complaining about interest rates,” he said.
“We need the funds to be liberalised so that there is competition in using them to grow our economy.”
Custodial services are part of the new roles emerging from the two part liberalisation process that requires that pension funds separate their roles.
The segregation of functions for pensions funds, both public and in-house also requires an administrator, fund manager, trustee and a fiduciary trustee.
As a custodian, KCB Uganda will be able to hold and maintain assets for clients and also oversee the buying, selling and maintenance of investments for them.
Essentially, when a fund appoints a bank as their custodian, they have given permission to interface with stock brokers, money markets, capital markets and financial institutions on client instructions.
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