Global pension assets have leaped significantly to $54trillion, the Chief Executive Officer of the World Pension Summit, WPS, Mr. Chris Battaglia made this known on Thursday, August 18.
Battaglia, made the remark at a media conference in Lagos, ahead of the third World Pension Summit ‘Africa Special,’ expected to take place in Abuja between September 27th and 28th, 2016.
The WPS Boss said a lot of developed countries, pension assets are now more than 100 per cent of Gross Domestic Product ,GDP.
“Global retirement assets are growing in size and volume and a shift from defined benefits to defined contribution. In most developed countries, pension assets have also grown in relation to their economies. With great assets come greater responsibility. Assets of the 300 pension funds globally averaged nearly $14trillion,” he added.
Earlier, the Director General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, explained that the Commission, in furtherance to its mission of promoting a pension industry that impacts on nation-building and national development organised the first and second edition of the World Pension Summit ‘Africa Special’ in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
She stated that the themes of the previous summit were selected based on the need to lay solid foundation for the establishment of an enduring pension system in Africa and chart ways for effectively channeling the pension funds to sustainable investments such as railway, power and real estate.
The PenCom boss added that it was envisaged that the summit would serve as a catalyst to actively stimulate economic development across the continent.
