PenCom to sanction PFAs as only 17% of RSA holders recaptured
By Rosemary Iwunze
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has announced potential sanctions for Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) that do not meet targets set during the ongoing Retirement Savings Account (RSA) data recapture exercise.
In its first-quarter 2026 report, PenCom revealed that only 17.03 percent of legacy RSA holders in the industry have completed the necessary data recapture. The report indicated that 58,220 RSAs were recaptured during the quarter, raising the total number of recaptured accounts to 1,485,052 out of approximately 8,722,609 legacy accounts.
The Commission expressed concern that, if the current pace continues, the outstanding data recapture would require more than 25 additional quarters to complete. As a result, PenCom plans to shift the management of the exercise from a PFA-driven approach to a Commission-led initiative, which will include the establishment of quarterly targets and performance reporting.
“PenCom will introduce PFA-level quarterly recapture targets, publish quarterly progress reports, and impose regulatory sanctions on operators that materially underperform against target during 2026,” the Commission stated.
Norrenberger Pensions led the industry in the first quarter, achieving 17,157 recaptures, which accounted for 29.47 percent of the total activity for that period. Stanbic IBTC followed with 10,963 recaptures, while Veritas Glanvills recorded 6,328. Guaranty Trust Pensions and FCMB Pensions rounded out the top five, with 3,918 and 3,888 recaptures, respectively.
Launched by PenCom in August 2019, the data recapture exercise mandates RSA holders to update and validate their personal and biometric information with their PFAs.
Additionally, PenCom reported that Katsina State’s recent amendment of its pension law to adopt the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) has brought the total number of states with CPS legislation to 25. Currently, eight states are fully compliant, having enacted the necessary legislation and initiated implementation through licensed PFAs, while 17 states have legislation but have yet to begin the implementation process.
