Nigeria’s Nationwide Pension Fee (PenCom) has raised the allowable funding limits for odd shares throughout key Retirement Financial savings Account (RSA) fund classes.
The adjustment was introduced in an addendum launched on Monday, February 9, 2026, to the Revised Regulation on Funding of Pension Fund Belongings initially issued in September 2025.
The transfer is geared toward bettering asset allocation effectivity, particularly with the famous absence of qualifying belongings, particularly in different belongings.
What PenCom is saying
PenCom stated that the revision is a focused response to implementation bottlenecks recognized after the 2025 regulatory overhaul.
The Fee revised Part 9 of the regulation, rising fairness publicity caps for a number of RSA fund lessons as follows:
- RSA Fund I: 30% → 35%
- RSA Fund II: 25% → 33%
- RSA Fund III: 10% → 15%
- RSA Fund VI (Energetic): 25% → 33%
The Fee stated the modifications take fast impact and apply to all licensed Pension Fund Directors (PFAs) and custodians.
Why the adjustment issues
In accordance with PenCom, implementation challenges emerged following the 2025 regulatory replace, significantly round new limits for odd shares, Federal Authorities of Nigeria (FGN) bonds, and different belongings.
- A key constraint has been the scarcity of qualifying different funding devices, which has prevented PFAs from totally deploying funds inside prescribed asset lessons.
- The end result, the Fee famous, has been underutilization of funding limits and protracted extra liquidity throughout the pension system.
By increasing fairness funding headroom, the regulator goals to supply PFAs with extra flexibility to allocate funds extra effectively whereas sustaining threat diversification throughout RSA portfolios.
Market implications in accordance with knowledgeable views
Funding specialists hailed the transfer as a well-thought-out initiative, stressing it will present extra help to the equities market.
- “The coverage shift is prone to help home fairness demand, significantly from institutional traders managing long-term retirement belongings,” Mr. Blakey Ijezie, founding father of Okwudili Ijezie & Co. (Chartered Accountants), said.
- “Pension funds stay one of many largest swimming pools of investable capital in Nigeria’s monetary system, and incremental changes to asset allocation limits can considerably affect capital market liquidity and value discovery,” Mr. Tajudeen Olayinka, the Chief Government of Wyoming Capital Companions, submitted.
The market operators famous that the event might set off:
- Adjustments in pension fund fairness allocations within the coming quarters
- Important affect on NGX market turnover and valuation help
- Elevated fairness publicity improves portfolio yield in a high-interest-rate atmosphere
- Observe-up measures to broaden different asset availability
What you need to know
In September 2025, PenCom elevated the utmost allowable allocation from Pension Fund Directors (PFAs) to non-public fairness funds from 5% to 10% and 5% to fifteen% throughout some funds and launched 12 rigorous qualifying standards for PE funds.
- PenCom’s newest revised funding guidelines are a part of a longer-term push to diversify pension portfolios past fixed-income securities, which have dominated Nigerian pension belongings for years and restricted returns amid inflationary pressures.
- The regulator’s broader reforms have reduce permissible publicity to conventional authorities securities whereas elevating allocation limits for equities and different lessons similar to infrastructure and personal fairness, geared toward boosting returns and broadening institutional funding affect.
This adjustment comes towards a backdrop of rising pension-fund belongings, which exceeded N26 trillion as of October 2025 as managers diversify to seize larger returns, supporting each capital markets and retirement outcomes.
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