Fund wants correct information

 THE National Superannuation Fund (NASFUND) is calling on members to provide correct information in their employer references.

Chief executive officer Ian Tarutia said more than 300 applications were queried as members failed to provide correct information in their employer references when lodging applications for their retirement savings.

Last year’s record showed that a total 59,515 members of NASFUND yet to update their beneficiary records.

The report further indicated that a total of 57,384 active members have are yet to update their information by filling an authorised (SF2) nomination form.

During the period, the superfund referred 186 applications with a total amount of K2,157,109.01 paid to the Public Curator’s office due to deceased members having nil beneficiaries in its system.

While the fund has been reminding employers and employees through site visitations and through its upgraded communication mediums there needs to be on-going communication among employers through their payroll officers and NASFUND to ensure that every member must fill in a form to update their information immediately.

As a way forward, the superfund encourages contributing employers, through their payroll officers, to ensure that all members of staff leaving employment (resignation, termination, retirement etc) are given an employer reference at the time of exit. 

The document must be endorsed with the following details in the references;   

• Date started work;
• date started contributing to Nasfund;
• last date of payment made to Nasfund;
• a copy of company Id card or a photograph; and,
• Payroll number of the employee. 

The fund stressed that members must be aware of the importance of providing all required documents at the time of lodgement of an application to avoid setbacks and frustrations.

To have easy access to members account balances, Nasfund has introduced the “Text Bal” service.

Now in its 6th year of operation, NASFUND’s Text Bal service provides a quick and easy way 

for members to access their account balances on their mobile phones. 

By registering their mobile (Bmobile and Digicel) number with the service, members receive an updated balance on a monthly basis. The service has proven to be a success with 30,449 members registered to date. 

However, with a membership size of over 490,000 members, only a small proportion of members are taking advantage of the service. 

The fund is encouraging members to register by filling in the SF25 SMS Registration form.

It should be noted that the balance members receive via the above mentioned services are based on the timely remittances and allocation of their contributions from their employers

Members’ account balances accessible by this method are updated after contributions are received and updated on the NASFUND’s administration system. 

Employers typically make contributions to NASFUND on a monthly basis although deductions are shown on the fortnightly payslip. It is therefore advisable for members to check their balances on a monthly basis.

NASFUND plans to introduce more IT-based services to provide members with efficient and user friendly ways to access its services.

In addition to the Text Bal service, members can obtain their balance on the Nasfund website.