The first Pension Trustee Summit had been held in Accra at Erata Hotel. The aim of the summit was to bring together pension trustees especially individual trustees and other stakeholders to discuss the issues of good governance. The summit was attended by pension trustees, service providers, financial services regulators and the general public. The theme of the summit ‘Building a Network of Effective Trusteeship: Industry, Governance and Investments’ chartered a discourse on how individual pension trustees would better govern pension schemes they manage and bring ultimate value to their contributors.
Speaking on the topic, Roles, Responsibilities & Authorities of Trustees, Relationships from Regulator’s Point of view, Mr. Ernest Amartey-Vondee, Director of Planning, Monitoring & Research and Evaluation (PMRE) of the NPRA, sited the need for trustees to be sensitive to the fact that behind the pension figures are persons whom the trustees are serving. Mr. Andrew Agblobi, a pensions expert, took time to highlight on the various aspects of Ghana’s pensions and what would be required of trustees to deliver as expected. The Head of Audit & Risk Management of Securities and the Exchange Commission (SEC) made a passionate turn on the need for regulators to ensure that industry players and complying with the rules and regulations to the letter. “State institutions that are to enforce the law tend to be weak and beggarly and therefore allow many of the big law breakers to go scot free while they worry the little fishes in the enforcement waters. Strong enforcement should cover the full hog of administrative, criminal and civil sanctions in an equitable manner”, he said.
Other service provider including SSNIT were there to share their experiences in managing pensions and took the opportunities to assure the public of better services ahead. Mr. Karl Tufuoh sharing a short session indicated that SSNIT has massively improved their services to the public. A number of contributors made their voices heard on their expectations of the trustees who are managing their funds.
One view that speakers collectively shared was the need for pension trustees to keep learning to bring good governance principles to bear. The event organisers PBSC Events an arm of Penguard Business Solutions, represented by Ms. Elizabeth Birago Yeboah, a pensions expert, alerted that the drive for organising such a summit was the quest to see pensions management in Ghana attain the global standards. The summit was the first of its kind and would be an annual event.
