PenCom unveils Interswitch, Pencentral, 7 others as new pension payment solution providers

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has unveiled the adoption of nine payment service solution service providers in its newly introduced online Pension Contribution Remittance System. The latest initiative, the online Pension Contribution Remittance System (PCRS), replaces PenCom’s initial process, which is where organizations manually remit their employees’ pension contributions. 

In this development, the commission pointed out that employers can now upload employees’ schedules and make payments of their pension contributions online from the comfort of their homes or offices. In addition, the PCRS is free and comes at no cost to the employer.

“The PCRS ensures that pension remittance schedules uploaded by employers are accurate and employee personal identification numbers and pension fund administrators are verified with PenCom before remittances are processed,” the commission noted. 

The approved payment service solution providers include Interswitch by Interswitch Group, Pencentral by Chamsaccess Limited, Paypen by Netline Limited, Penco by Gemspay Solutions Limited, and Pensphere (formerly Paythru) by Pethahiah Rehoboth Int’l Limited. Others are Epcoss by Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement Systems Plc, Penremit by Cyberspace Limited, Pensol by Uniswitch Technology Limited, and Awabah by Awabah Remit Services Limited.

PenCom noted that the new PCRS arrangement, which provides a handful of alternatives to employers, is structured towards efficient facilitation of their pension contribution remittances.

The new system now mandates that all pension remittances follow a standardized format, preventing funds from being unaccounted for. From Q2 2025, employers must comply with this framework to continue remitting pension contributions for over 10 million Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders.

Earlier in December, the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) announced that it would introduce four service solution providers starting April 1, 2025, to standardize remittance in the sector.

Reacting to the latest process at the 2024 PenCom Media Conference held in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of PenOp, Oguche Agudah, said the digital adoption was to address some of the challenges with the manual system of remittances such as uncredited retirement savings accounts and operators getting remittances without a schedule.

While explaining how the implementation process will take effect, Agudah said that when the employer pays the pension, it goes straight to the RSA holder which will come with a standardized remittance template. He added that there will also be validation checks to eliminate instances of ‘We got money, but don’t know where it’s coming from.’

Back then, he listed four service providers, including PayPen by Netline Ltd., Paythru by Pethahiah by Rehoboth International Ltd., Pension Central by Chams, and Cyberpay by Cyberspace Ltd.

Pension Commission speed-up in retirement benefits payment 

In its efforts to reduce the delays in the payment of retirement benefits, the commission said that Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) will no longer be required to seek approval or obtain a “No Objection” from PenCom before processing and disbursing benefits, including Programmed Withdrawal, Retiree Life Annuity, and Temporary Loss of Employment benefits, among others. 

This new policy, effective June 1, 2025, is designed to streamline the benefit payment process to improve access to entitlements for retirees and other RSA holders.

Before now, PFAs were required to review, process, and forward all benefit payment applications to the Commission for approval before the appointed PFCs could credit beneficiaries’ accounts.

However, PFAs must continue to submit requests for approval to the Commission regarding depleted RSAs and death benefit applications, in accordance with Section 8 (2) of the Pension Reform Act 2014.

“Furthermore, PFAs are mandated to process and approve eligible benefit applications within two working days of receiving all required documentation, while Pension Fund Custodians must ensure payment of the approved benefits within 24 hours of receiving instructions from the PFAs. PenCom will continue to monitor the implementation of this policy through its regulatory technology platforms and other supervisory mechanisms to ensure full compliance,” PenCom added. 

Recall that in its process to strengthen its database’s security and integrity, the commission directed the provision of Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) for all Retirement Savings Account (RSA) registration and data recapture processes, effective from February 1. 

It noted then that PFAs are to verify their BVNs and update their registration and data recapture forms to include a mandatory Bank Verification Number field.

“PFAs must ensure that the BVN provided for RSA Registration and Data Recapture is 11 digits. BVN must be provided for all new RSA registrations. PFAs must indicate that the BVN field on their RSA registration forms is mandatory. PFAs must obtain the BVN of RSA holders at the point of their data recapture. Consequently, PFAs must indicate the BVN field on their Data Recapture Forms is mandatory,” the circular expressed.

PFAs are companies licensed by the PenCom to manage and invest the pension funds in the employee’s Retirement Savings Account (RSA). Some PFA in Nigeria are Access Limited, Fidelity Managers Limited, FCMB Limited, Guaranty Trust Limited and many more.

Read More: PenCom makes BVN mandatory for Retirement Savings Account registration from Feb 1.