The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) has issued licences to 45 institutions to begin the implementation of the new pension scheme. Out of the number, 29 of them are to operate as corporate pension fund managers, nine as corporate trustees, while seven will serve as pension fund custodians. With the approval, companies and institutions and individuals will have the opportunity to choose which of the companies is best suited to manage the contributions of their employees. The Chairman and acting Chief Executive Officer of the NPRA, Mr Richard Kwame Asante, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said about GH¢270 million was expected to be given to the pension fund managers by the NPRA to enable them to start their operations. “Presently, we have started a reconciliation exercise of the accounts we opened at the Bank of Ghana, while the various processes to finally register the companies have been done,” he said. He said companies whose employees contributed to the scheme would be given the opportunity to cross-check the amount from the reconciliated accounts to avoid any misunderstandings before the moneys were released. He said the NPRA had put up public notices of guidelines and application forms for the registration of schemes. Five guidelines and six application forms, he said, had been issued covering occupational, provident fund and group/personal pension schemes, adding that, “The guidelines and forms will be available on the NPRA website (www.npra.gov.gh) from Monday, March 19, 2012.” Mr Asante said the second public notice was on licensing of corporate trustees and registration of pension fund managers and custodians for which the licences had been issued as of March 16, 2012. The third public notice would be on the implementation timetable, he said, and noted, “The NPRA has released the full implementation timetable which covers the period March 16, 2012 to May 2012 for all stakeholders and the general public.” A new three-tier pension scheme has been put in place to replace what was seen as a predominantly state-run old system. The change in the structure of the scheme follows a five-year pension reform process carried out some six years ago. The change, the first in almost 40 years, comprises a compulsory national scheme run by the state-owned Social Security and National Investment Trust (SSNIT), CAP 30 (a scheme for some arms of the public service) and a number of privately managed voluntary schemes under the National Pensions Act 2008 (Act 766). The new act seeks to establish a contributory three-tier pension scheme to replace the existing SSNIT scheme, the CAP 30 and the privately run pension schemes now on offer. It also seeks to establish a unified pension scheme for Ghana, with enhanced pension benefits devoid of the inequalities in the existing parallel public sector pension schemes. The three-tier scheme, all of which are contributory, is being managed by a newly created NPRA. Under the scheme, the first-tier is a basic national social security scheme which will incorporate an improved system of SSNIT benefits mandatory for all employees in both the private and public sectors and optional for the self-employed. It will pay only monthly pensions and related benefits such as survivors and invalidity benefits. The second tier, christined the occupational or work-based pension scheme, is also mandatory for all employees but will be privately managed. It is designed primarily to give contributors higher lump sum benefits than is presently available under the SSNIT pension scheme. The third tier is a voluntary provident fund and personal pension scheme supported by tax benefit incentives to provide additional funds. It will be available to those who want to make voluntary contributions to enhance their pension benefits and also for workers in the informal sector who are not catered for by the two mandatory schemes.