Ashford W. Meikle, Business Reporter

Only a handful of pension schemes have met the registration deadline set by the Financial Services Commission (FSC), an industry source said Friday, despite a race by fund managers to keep the September 29 cut-off for compliance under the Pensions Act of 2004.

"It's an administrator nightmare ... The response has been poor so far. I would estimate that in terms of fully completed pension plans returns, only about five per cent of pension plans have fully completed everything," said the source.

"The amount that was requested by the FSC is just a massive amount of bureaucracy, which even they themselves are now questioning."

It is a view shared by a senior manager of one of the more established pension fund managers.

"A lot of persons in the industry will not meet the deadline ... because they are not in a position to submit all the documents required by the FSC," said the executive who indicated, however, that his company had complied.

No extension

On Friday, FSC executive director Brian Wynter, speaking with Sunday Business, said there would be no extension to the deadline.

He declined to estimate the compliance rate, citing insufficient information with which to make an estimate.

"I would say we have received about 70 applications so far," Wynter said around midday Friday.

That number also included a smattering of new applicants.

Jamaica, with a labour force of just over one million, has an estimated 80,000 persons who benefit from pension funds managed by private sector companies. Figures from the Ministry of Labour and Welfare also indicate that there are some 73,000 government pensioners on the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).

With the passage of the Pensions Act, which calls for greater fiduciary responsibility on the part of pension managers and trustees, superannuation schemes are now being regulated by the FSC. Trustees and fund managers now have to pass a 'fit and proper test' to satisfy the regulator.

Fund managers in the past weeks have been organising meetings for appointment of trustees and ensuring compliance with the new rules.

"It's not that our response has been poor ... A lot of the changes have been taking place but people haven't necessarily finished the process," said one source.

Ppolice report

"The police report was a big problem. That one was a really contentious issue but they have backed off on that one. They have established a new, easier process but that is just recently."

Wynter confirmed this, but said the FSC was "working with the police to make the process easier."

The FSC director says the law allows existing schemes to continue operating while their applications are assessed.

- ashford.meikle@gleanerjm.com