June 2021

Merger of SSNIT numbers, Ghana Card begins on June 28

The merger of the SSNIT and Ghana Cards commences on Monday June 28 with a call on individuals with SSNIT numbers to follow one of three ways to ensure the merger. These include the use of a shortcode as well as the website of SSNIT. In an interview with GBC News, Manager in charge of Corporate Affairs of SSNIT Afua Sarkodie, said the transition period for the exercise is between June 28 to December this year. Already the Trust has held a...

Ghana. NPRA advises commercial drivers to join third tier pensions

The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) has called on commercial drivers to register and benefit from the third tier pension scheme for a secured future. Mr Samuel Baffour Awuah, Corporate Affairs Officer of the NPRA who made the call said the third tier pension provided decent retirement packages for beneficiaries. Speaking at separate sensitization exercises held for taxi and commercial drivers in Sunyani, Mr Awuah explained retirement was inevitable and a reality of life, which could not be escaped whether in...

March 2021

Ghana. Low financial literacy responsible for low patronage of pensions by women and informal workers

A Compliance officer with the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) says low financial literacy is the cause of low patronage of the pension scheme among women and people in the informal sector. Lois Asiamah said the lack of adequate and appropriate information concerning pensions has left a lot of Ghanaian women and others in the informal sector unaware of the opportunities and advantages of investing in a pension scheme. She added that due to the lack of financial literacy, people in...

January 2021

Ghana. Odartey Lamptey sworn-in as deputy MD of GCB Bank

Mr. Lamptey was sworn in as the DMD Operations and Executive Director of the Bank on Wednesday, 20th January 2021 by Justice Sophia Bernasko Essah, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ghana. The swearing-in ceremony was witnessed by the Chairman, Mr. Jude Arthur, and other members of the GCB Bank Board. Mr. Lamptey takes over from Mr. Samuel Amankwah who retired from the Bank in 2020 after 20 years of service in Executive Management and Senior Management positions....

December 2020

Ghana: Pres Launches Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme

A cocoa farmers pension scheme for farmers was yesterday launched here by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. In pursuit of Section 26 of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) Law, 1984 (PNDC L.81), which mandates COCOBOD to establish a contributory insurance for cocoa farmers, the government, in collaboration with COCOBOD and the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), set up the scheme. It is open to all cocoa farmers in the country to make contributions toward their retirement while COCOBOD makes...

November 2020

Ghana. SSNIT saves ¢200m after value for money audit, renegotiation of legacy investment-related costs

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has saved some ¢200 million on legacy investment-related costs. This was achieved through value for money audit and renegotiations of such costs. According to the Director-General, Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang the measure taken was relevant for the sustainability of the trust. “The cost-saving measures implemented by the leadership of the Trust have helped to improve the financial health and long-term sustainability of the Trust”, he said in a speech delivered at the...

October 2020

Ghana. Workers urged to invest in Tier-3 pension scheme

The President of Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana(CLOGSAG), Dr Evans Dzikum, has asked workers to make a deliberate effort to invest part of their earnings in the voluntary Tier 3 pension scheme administered by private entities. He said that was the surest way to what he described as a happy old age as majority of workers under the present pension scheme would be entitled to only a quarter of their current incomes during retirement. Save towards pensions...

September 2020

Ghana: Press highlights plight of pensioners, removal of 7,000 ‘ghost’ names from govt’s payroll

The call on the government to take liability for the shortage in the payment of lump sums to pensioners and the removal of 7,000 ‘ghost’ names from the government’s payroll are some of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday. The Graphic reports that the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called on the government to take liability for the shortage in the payment of lump sums to pensioners who started retiring from this year under the new...

Ghana. Government to develop micro-pensions policy for informal sector

Government is considering the development of a micro-pensions policy to guide efforts at improving informal sector coverage to unlock its huge potential. Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, disclosing this, said since 2017, government had been creating awareness on the Third-Tier pension scheme for occupational groups, which had whipped up the interest of informal sector workers not covered by any pension scheme. Addressing a “press briefing” in Accra , he said effective January next year,...

July 2020

World Bank makes recommendations to improve pensions coverage in Ghana

“If a new or existing informal sector scheme is given sole responsibility for covering the cocoa farmers, economies of scale could be achieved. This will allow outreach to other groups of informal sector workers in a financially viable manner”, the World Bank asserted in its pensions coverage in the informal sector Africa report for 2019. However the World Bank report indicated that the coverage of the elderly through contributory pension schemes is not expected to improve. But the state...