The fully-owned subsidiary of the Bank was established to provide Anguillians and other Eastern Caribbean nationals with a pension vehicle to financially prepare for their retirement. A booklet published by the Bank stated that “in the Caribbean only a very small percentage of people have any kind of meaningful pension.” It added that “as the attitude towards pension is changing more employers are being challenged to help provide for the post retirement years of their employees.”

The launching of the company was held at Paradise Cove conference room on March 6 and was attended by a number of private sector employees on the island.

Joseph N. Payne

NBA’s Chairman Joseph N. Payne said the establishment of the company represented a fulfillment of one of the Bank’s key strategic initiatives and was part of its commitment to be the leader of change and innovation. “It has been said that retirement should be the best years of one’s life,” he went on. “However to make this a reality, provisions must be made to ensure that when we retire we have the means to make those years the best years of our life. This is what our company is all about…”

Mr. Payne said Anguillians were fortunate that their leaders had the foresight many years ago to implement a social security scheme. He noted that recent innovations in that scheme had extended its reach to a wider cross-section of the community. He pointed out, however, that social security provided only part of the income earned by employees during their working life. “This company we are launching today is specialised in third party pension administration,” he explained. “It will create a variety of pension plans which, along with social security, will eliminate the gap that so many of us will otherwise have to confront in our retirement.”

He said the bank had undertaken last year to create a pension plan for its own employees and he urged employers to give careful consideration to making a similar investment in their workers. He observed that there could be no better investment in employees than to know that their future was being provided for and in turn they would be more motivated, loyal and would make a greater contribution to the success of their respective places of employment.

The NBA Pension Funds Management Company Ltd. offers Employer Pension Plans; Individual Retirement Savings Plans and Education Savings Plans.

Mr. Payne is Chairman of the Board. The Directors are Ian Ferguson, Ralph Hodge, Timothy Hodge and Stanley Reid. Pamela Riley is the Manager/Corporate Secretary.

Pamela Riley

Ms. Riley gave six reasons for the introduction of the employer pension - to ease the transition to retirement; to attract and retain quality workers; as a reward for long service; deferred compensation; social obligation by employers; and competition. She described it as a trust set up by an employer to provide retirement benefits for its employees when they retire.

She explained that there were two main types of plans - the defined benefit plan and the defined contribution plan, working in the same manner with both employer and employee contributing towards the pension fund. She took the opportunity to outline in detail how the system will work and will be managed.

Rosanna Browne

An overview of the Anguilla Social Security System and a presentation on retirement planning was delivered by Rosanna Browne, Research and Development Officer with the Social Security Office. She stated that total reliance on social security as a form of pension would not completely cover the needs of the elderly but would certainly help. According to her, the various private initiatives were helping to supplement the old age pensions provided by social security and were welcomed measures strongly supported and encouraged by the Anguilla Social Security Board. “We believe that the more retirement benefits one can receive or look forward to upon retirement, the greater were one’s chances of being financially secured,” she said.

Miss Browne added that in light of the need for retirement planning, the Social Security Board welcomed the initiative and vision of the National Bank of Anguilla to establish the Pension Funds Management Company Ltd.

Tom Morgan and Erna McReynolds

The company is working with the Tom Morgan Group of Salomon Smith Barney Inc. to ensure the proper management of the pension funds under its administration. Senior Vice President, Investments of the New York-based Group, Tom Morgan and First Vice President and Financial Consultant, Erna McReynolds, spoke on the benefits of the NBA’s Pension Funds Management Company Ltd. and encouraged employers and employees to take advantage of the opportunities it offered as well as the investment options opened to them.

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