27,701 Retirement Saving Account (RSA) holders have dumped Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) in Quarter 1.

RSAs under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) have been changing their PFAs since the introduction of the transfer window in 2021 over poor customer service and return on investment.

Report from the National Pension Commission has revealed that an RSA holder is allowed to transfer his or her RSA once yearly. The RSA transfer enables greater flexibility for contributors.

According to the commission, the RSA holders transferred a total of N191.12 billion as of March 31.

The report read: “This represents a 4,475 or 19.27per cent increase in RSA transfers when compared to the 23,226 RSA holders that transferred N141.87billion in Q4, 2024.

“Overall, a total of 368,911 RSA holders have transferred N1.77 trillion from one PFA to another from the commencement of the RSA transfer process in 2021 to Q1:2025.’’

Meanwhile, the commission reported retirement benefits pay-out made to contributors at retirement through Programmed Withdrawal (PW) and Retiree Life Annuity (RLA), En-bloc and Lump Sum.

Total lump sum disbursed from the inception of the CPS to Q1 2025 amounted to N1.64 trillion, comprising N1.25 trillion for PW and N390 billion for RLA.

On En-Bloc, a total of N72.41 billion was disbursed as en-bloc payments from the inception of the CPS to Q1 2025.

PW is a mode of payment offered by the PFAs that allow a retiree to access his or her retirement benefit on a monthly or quarterly basis while RLA refers to a series of monthly or quarterly pension payments purchased from an eligible Life Assurance Company.

En-bloc on the other hand is a lump-sum payment to retirees whose Consolidated RSA Balances are insufficient to secure a monthly or quarterly pension or annuity equivalent to at least one-third of the prevailing minimum wage while Lump Sum is the 25 to 50 per cent of total amount in the account of an RSA paid upon retirement.