Initiatives to bear fruit this year: Executive

Business

NATIONAL Superannuation Fund (Nasfund) chief executive officer Ian Tarutia says several initiatives that the fund has initiated to improve processing times into member accounts will come to fruition this year.
Tarutia made the remarks when responding to questions from The National on the progress of the fund.
“In October, 2019, Nasfund introduced the ‘one member one account concept’, which means a member will only have one account number for life once they register with the fund as a contributor,” he said.
“Currently, members moving employment from one establishment to another end up with more than one membership number and this becomes problematic when the member becomes eligible to withdraw their savings.
“The initiative has required system changes that have started through Kina as fund administrators and public awareness.”
Tarutia said the awareness was conducted through three employer conferences held in Port Moresby and Lae.
“By April this year, we anticipate system changes to be completed, followed by a majority of employers adjusting their payroll records accordingly to ensure member account details are recorded once and for all,” he said.
He said other initiative taken by the fund was the introduction of Super Saturdays, which extended client service hours to weekends on Saturdays in Port Moresby and Lae.
“This will continue this year and the introduction of member kiosks, which was first rolled out in Kimbe in June 2019,” he said.
“Further roll-out of kiosks in high traffic areas throughout the country are planned for this year.
He said the fund’s IT division has been boosted with the recruitment of smart technical experts and this would drive several other projects to improve service accessibility and turnaround times.
Tarutia said last year was a busy and productive year for Nasfund with the roll out of several key initiatives in the fund’s member services area.
“It will continue this year while good growth was achieved from our investment portfolio, membership base, contribution receipts and new employer registration.”