The Government Institution Pension Fund (GIPF) says it will soon start implementing a real-time payment system on deceased people’s claims, a development that will ease the burden on bereaved family members.
The state-owned pensions fund paid out N$18.4 million in funeral benefits and N$310 million in death benefits for the financial year ended 31 March 2022 despite concerns that in some cases it takes longer to process payments when people die.
GIPF’s CEO David Nuyoma said, as part of improved service delivery, the organisation has embarked on a turnaround strategy that will see payments being made instantly upon completion of claiming processes.
“This is one of our turnaround strategies. We are pushing towards reducing the waiting period, so that we can start paying immediately even before you reach the exit point of our premises,” he said.
Another area of improvement, he said, is on the payment of retirement benefits of which N$5.5 billion was paid out during the period under review, which the CEO says ranges between two to three weeks.
“This is also another aspect we want to tackle, because our aim is not to distribute poverty, rather wealth. Scenarios when retirees would wait for their pension pay-outs for more than six month is a thing of the past. This time we want to also reduce the period of payment from the current 14 to 21 days,” added Nuyoma at the launch of the fund’s financial report.
“As it stands after the lump sum pay-out, the following month we immediately start with the monthly payment. We do not wish to experience a break of income in between subjecting our members to suffering as they wait.”
Nuyoma noted that all these improvements were achieved at the height of COVID-19, adding it was the company’s biggest test as it sailed in uncharted waters, and still managed to grow its asset base and honouring members’ payment.
“All these were achieved through company strategic plans which were in place such as sustainability, corporate governance, leadership management and a turnaround strategy. This is all due to a competent team and the board.
GIPF has over 140,000 members and has an asset base of N$147 billion. Of the total assets, 52% is invested locally in listed and unlisted markets.
“Many pension funds around the globe are operating on a deficit below 100 mark of liabilities, but we are at 136 percent way above, thus remain solvent and able to sustain and meet the fund obligations in a short, medium and long term. It is based on this, that we aspire to be the leading pension fund in the world,” he stressed.
