The National Pensions Regulatory Authority, NPRA says the New Pensions Scheme is set to take full effect latest by April this year. By this time, the authority hopes to have issued licences to the Trustees and also registered the custodians and fund managers. Implementation of the new Pensions Scheme started in January 2010 following which the regulations and operational guidelines for the service providers have all been passed.So far, some 10 custodians, 30 Fund Managers and 13 Trustees all corporate entities as well as over100 individuals have submitted applications to the authority to act as service providers of the new scheme. Board Chairman of the NPRA, Kwame Asante tells JOY BUSINESS, all is well on course for the scheme to be fully operational by April this year - contrary to assertions it has delayed. “He tells JOY BUSINESS "according to the time-table we issued in September, by the March 2012, the licensing and registration would have been done, the schemes would have been set up and then all the funds that we have accumulated since January 2010 on the tier-2 would then be transferred to the trustees to manage. However, for some of the requirements especially associated with the licensing of trustees you need to do a proper test. We need to be sure about their premises and IT infrastructure to ensure that we give funds to entities with the right kind of management structures. This may take a little bit of time but then I don’t believe that the delay will be up to even a month”. In this bid, the authority has been meeting with the service providers as part of initiatives towards a smooth licensing and registration process and other related issues. Mr. Asante also dismisses suggestions that the implementation of the scheme is being unduly hampered by the lack resources from government. “The engagement with government is on a regular basis, through the budgetary system. For now we are funded by the budget and the budget process has now been completed. We’ve been given part of what we requested for and we think that we need a bit of more money. Government is however very committed and interested. The fact that we haven’t received all of our budgetary support does not mean that we are constrained in our workings. We are doing what we have to do”. He emphasized “Right now we are the phase of licensing and registering of service providers and that has not been affected by the funding. So we want to concentrate on our licensing procedure which is very critical to get the market going. At the same time, we are engaging government and hopefully we’ll receive the remaining funds and then we will embark on our educational program. There’s a lot of education that need to be done”.