Executive Director, Technical, Access ARM Pensions, Mr. Afolabi  Folayan,  spoke to Nume Ekeghe on the pension industry assessing the impacts of reform policies and how his company contributing to the deepening of the industry. Excerpts:

At Access ARM Pensions, the Operations Directorate serves as the engine room of the organisation, ensuring that people, processes, and systems run seamlessly to deliver a superior client experience. I oversee all core operational functions including contribution processing, benefits payments, fund accounting, finance, human resources, and information technology. In simple terms, we ensure that pension contributions are received and processed promptly, investments are accurately accounted for at both fund and individual levels, and retirement benefits are paid efficiently and without delay. Supporting these activities, our finance, HR, and IT teams work cohesively to drive operational excellence, enhance service delivery, and support the broader strategic goals of the business.

In a high inflation environment such as we are facing currently in the country, keeping the cost of business operations down is important to be able to serve customers efficiently and return value to shareholders. At Access ARM Pensions, we have adopted a multi-pronged strategy to strengthen resilience and ensure seamless service delivery across all customer touch points. Firstly, we have accelerated investments in automation, streamlining critical processes such as contribution reconciliation, benefit payments, and fund reporting. This has significantly improved speed, accuracy, and transparency across workflows, enabling faster decision-making and more proactive issue resolution. Secondly, we are actively optimising our vendor relationships to reduce currency exposure. Where possible, we are shifting toward local procurement—engaging domestic service providers and tech vendors—to minimise reliance on FX-denominated contracts and support the Nigerian enterprise ecosystem. Lastly, we continue to leverage the broader Access ecosystem to drive shared value, particularly in vendor management and IT infrastructure. This collaboration enhances cost efficiency while maintaining the high service standards our clients expect.

At Access ARM Pensions, we understand that trust and transparency are at the heart of pension administration. Our core values—excellence and service—guide every aspect of our operations. As a customer-centric organisation, we have built our operating model around delivering the best possible client experience, from contribution processing to benefits payment. Our customer promise is to offer best-in-class service, with speed and accuracy in remittance processing, investment tracking, and prompt benefit payouts. To uphold this, we have invested in a robust omni channel strategy that allows clients to reach us through eight distinct service and complaint resolution channels, some available 24/7. This is complemented by our extensive physical presence through branches and service centres nationwide, ensuring accessibility regardless of location. Digitally, our upgraded mobile app, WhatsApp and other platforms provide real-time access to account details and fund performance. Meanwhile, our enhanced contact centre, supported by trained agents and improved ticketing systems, ensures fast and responsive issue resolution. We also drive proactive communication through alerts, regulatory updates, and education delivered via email, and app notifications. Together, these measures reinforce our commitment to transparency, accessibility, and service excellence across every customer touch point.

As you may know, beyond our core mandate of pension administration, we are also highly skilled and experienced investment managers. With the industry’s growing shift toward more sophisticated asset classes—such as infrastructure—we have strengthened our internal frameworks to support this evolution. This includes enhanced due diligence processes, seamless onboarding of new instruments, and robust valuation protocols, all of which are critical to maintaining compliance, transparency, and long-term performance. We have also upgraded our reporting infrastructure to accommodate the unique lifecycle and risk profiles of these assets, ensuring timely and detailed performance reporting to both regulators and contributors. Our compliance and fund accounting units work closely with investment teams to track adherence to guidelines while adapting control processes to fit non-traditional structures such as project finance vehicles or private equity partnerships. We welcome the new developments and can see how this will enhance investment returns on our portfolios and we are well prepared for it.      

   

Inflation is often described as the cruellest tax—and understandably so, as it silently erodes purchasing power over time. From an operational standpoint, our role is to ensure contributors have timely, transparent insights into the performance of their retirement savings so they can make informed decisions in response to macroeconomic realities. At Access ARM Pensions, we provide real-time visibility through our digital platforms, allowing clients to view their balances, portfolio performance, and transaction history with ease. In addition to this, we publish monthly newsletters that detail fund performance and the asset allocation strategies across various RSA Fund types. This transparency enables contributors to assess how their savings are positioned against inflationary pressures. We also emphasize investment education, empowering clients to adjust their strategy based on age and risk tolerance—whether that’s moving to a more aggressive fund or increasing their Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) to boost long-term value.

At Access ARM Pensions, we believe national development and fiduciary duty can and should coexist. Pension funds are uniquely positioned to contribute to economic growth by financing infrastructure, housing, and other productive sectors. However, this must never come at the expense of contributors’ long-term financial security. From an operations standpoint, we apply rigorous due diligence, compliance, and risk management protocols to ensure that every investment—impact-focused or not—meets our standards for safety, liquidity, and return. Our internal governance frameworks are built to preserve asset integrity, while ensuring all initiatives align with both regulatory guidelines and our contributors’ best interests. Ultimately, we support strategic impact where it enhances value, not just for the economy, but for the contributors whose futures we are entrusted to protect.

The operationalisation of the Pension Reform Act 2014 provision allowing contributors to access up to 25 per cent of their RSA balance for residential mortgage equity has been one of the most impactful reforms in recent years. Since the initiative launched, we have supported over 1,000 contributors on their journey to homeownership. Given the high demand, we swiftly established a dedicated mortgage desk as a one-stop hub to coordinate end-to-end processing—covering eligibility checks, benefit calculations, documentation, regulatory approvals, and disbursements to primary mortgage institutions (PMIs). While uptake has been strong, a key operational challenge has been coordinating with PMIs on timely submission of pre and post-approval documentation. To address this, we’ve adopted a proactive, agile engagement model—streamlining workflows and fostering real-time collaboration to shorten turnaround times and ensure a seamless contributor experience.

At Access ARM Pensions, digital transformation is central to our strategy for operational excellence and customer satisfaction. We’ve made substantial investments in digital infrastructure—both in our backend systems and customer-facing channels—to drive operational efficiency, enhance compliance, and elevate user experience.

From a back-office perspective, we’ve automated key workflows such as contribution reconciliation, fund accounting, and benefits processing. This not only speeds up processing time and reduces error rates but also improves transparency and scalability as our client base grows.

On the compliance front, our systems now integrate smart controls and audit trails that ensure regulatory alignment. Real-time dashboards and automated alerts allow us to track and resolve anomalies proactively, strengthening governance across operations.

Most importantly, we continue to lead on customer experience. We have significantly upgraded our mobile app, web portal, chatbot, and email platforms—touchpoints that have become increasingly popular with contributors. These platforms enable contributors to initiate benefit processing, update personal data, and onboard seamlessly. We’ve seen a steady rise in the adoption of our digital platforms, as contributors experience first-hand the speed, convenience, and ease of engagement. That said, we are not resting on our laurels. We are committed to continuous investment in these platforms to deliver more services digitally, allowing contributors to manage their retirement journey conveniently, anytime, and anywhere.

The Nigerian pension industry has made significant progress since the inception of the Contributory Pension Scheme in 2004, but as the system matures, now marking 20 years in 2024, some foundational policies require modernisation to support scale and efficiency. A key bottleneck remains the centralised approval of benefit payments by the National Pension Commission (PenCom). While this approach was necessary in the early days to build public confidence and ensure controls, it has become less tenable with over 10 million contributors. The recent decision by PenCom to delegate certain approval responsibilities to PFAs and streamline processing timelines is a welcome shift and will significantly improve service delivery and user experience. Another area ripe for reform is the centralised Retirement Savings Account (RSA) opening system. The current setup limits PFAs from independently assigning account numbers, creating avoidable delays. A system similar to the NUBAN framework used in the banking industry—where PFAs can generate unique, standardized account numbers would enhance flexibility and speed. In addition, enabling contributors to hold multiple types of pension accounts with different PFAs, such as separate accounts for mandatory contributions and voluntary or alternative retirement products would unlock innovation, encourage competition, and support financial planning across life stages. Reforming these structural elements will be critical to making pension operations more scalable, agile, and contributor-focused in the years ahead.

A constructive and collaborative relationship with the regulator is vital for a stable and forward-looking pension system. At Access ARM Pensions, we maintain continuous engagement with the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to ensure alignment with regulatory expectations while providing feedback on how policies impact contributors in real time. Our engagement with PenCom is daily and we have enjoyed the confidence of the Commission in adopting suggested operational changes to enhance service to the benefit of the contributor. We’ve been fortunate to enjoy the Commission’s openness to such input, and we’ve seen firsthand how some of our recommendations have led to service-enhancing updates that ultimately benefit contributors. To be fair, most of the guidelines are broad and allows for flexibility around implementation and innovation, so we have been extended great latitude around service delivery while remaining compliant.      

Over the next 12 to 18 months, our operational priorities at Access ARM Pensions are focused on deepening efficiency, strengthening compliance, and expanding access, particularly with regard to automation, contributor engagement, and support for informal sector growth.

We are excited about the implementation of self-approval for benefit payments, a significant regulatory shift that will reduce turnaround time and enhance customer satisfaction. Similarly, the approval of Payment Solution Service Providers (PSSPs) for pension remittances marks a step-change in how contributions are collected—improving speed, accuracy, and transparency for both employers and contributors.

In response, our goal is to implement straight-through processing across key workflows such as remittances, benefit disbursements, and customer onboarding. This will ensure seamless execution, minimize manual intervention, and support real-time reporting.

We also recognize the strategic importance of the informal sector and are gearing up operationally to support the expected expansion in micro-pension participation. This includes retooling our systems, client onboarding journeys, and reporting frameworks to cater to this emerging segment. Altogether, these initiatives reflect our commitment to delivering a high-performing, technology-driven, and contributor-focused pension experience.