By KT Reporter
Savers with pension schemes could receive business and financial advisory services as managers suggest a shift from the current practice.
Traditionally, pension funds have provided interest on savings deposited by workers. The trajectory is about to change, going by the deliberations at the All-Africa Pension Summit taking place at Munyonyo in Kampala.
It has been noted that pensions are often complex, with various types, benefits, and risks to consider, and therefore, the need to provide guidance/advisory, and planning services as part of the package.
It is understood that by understanding the options available and the expertise a financial planner can bring, you can feel confident about taking the next step towards securing your financial future.
This is courtesy of a partnership unveiled on the sidelines of the All-Africa Pension Summit at Munyonyo in Kampala, between cross-border payments company Sphere Labs and tisini, an intelligent finance and credit company.
Bank of Uganda governor, Michael Atingi-Ego, said that one of the challenges affecting the relevance of the pension sector to economic growth was that savers were hardly being guided on how to optimize their savings.
He said that while people are interested in saving, as shown by the growth of voluntary savings schemes, many do not have plans for their savings.
A partnership between Tisini and Sphere Labs was unveiled at the summit to fill the gap. Through intelligently tracking of saving behaviours, like frequency, sizes, and consistency of installments, locations, among others, financial and investment products will be automatically designed for the saver at no extra cost, according to Tisini Chief Executive, David Ofumbi.
The partnership positions Sphere’s payment and tokenisation rails as the backbone enabling tisini to scale both AI-powered credit delivery and tokenised investment opportunities across African markets.
”Tokenisation” is the process of converting assets or securities into digital tokens that are stored and traded on a blockchain and represent ownership or a claim on the underlying asset, enabling secure, efficient, and transparent transactions.
Ofumbi says that the name tisini (ninety in Swahili) was chosen to reflect the 90 percent of financial needs of savers, which are actually not addressed by the current financial architecture.
Patrick Ayota, the Managing Director at NSSF, said that by the time savers do to claim their benefits after attaining the age of 55, 90 percent of the beneficiaries have no other source of livelihood apart from their savings.
He therefore stresses the need for solutions that help the retirees benefit more from their savings.
Tisini is one of the companies that is currently operating within the NSSF sandbox, a situation where a startup operates in a controlled environment before the regulator approves that the product is safe enough to be rolled out onto the market.
Mohit Bhalodkar, Vice President, Global Strategy and Expansion at Sphere Labs, says their contribution is to provide a platform which tisini can utilise to scale.
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