Member Newsletter Jan-Feb 2018

Transcription

1 Call :1588 l help@nasfund.com.pg l Website : or visit a branch

2 Ian Tarutia, OBE Chief Executive Officer Dear Members and Employers, I welcome you all to NASFUND s first bi monthly newsletter, As you read through, there are key takeaways for both members, employers and new businesses interested to join NASFUND. Firstly, I take this opportunity to thank all NASFUND employers and members for your patience and participation through the I am pleased to inform you that NASFUND is now on top of both payments processing and contributions allocations as at Secondly, I encourage you to utilize the new electronic channels for service distribution for both members and employers. NASFUND s App and Online access are a big hit with members, having registered 11,000+ members in 5 months to 4,000 weekly users. It is also employers have registered for the Employer Online (EOL) portal for loading contributions and are consistently using this service on a fortnightly basis. I urge all members and employers to register for these services to enjoy the efficiencies and convenience offered. note new initiatives and projects that your fund is implementing. All of these are intended to improve your NASFUND experience, preserve and grow your savings for retirement. Building a healthy retirement nest egg for members is something very dear to me so I recommend you to read the articles regarding SALARY PACKAGING and how you can Finally, servicing member and employer interests are your Fund s priority. We have a continuous improvement program in place to take advantage of opportunities to lift service standards and improve investment returns. Future will cover these developments. Enjoy reading this edition of to share it with your family and friends. Ian Tarutia, OBE Chief Executive Officer

3 NASFUND 2017 Member Engagements 1.2 million - Branch Member Visits 1.1 million - SMS Balance Check 250,000 - Voice Call Enquiries 120, Enquiries 40,000 - APP / Online Access (Q4, 2017) 31,000 - Conferences and Employer Visits Salary Packaging to Superannuation What is Salary Packaging? Year of Membership Withdrawal Tax Applicable Salary Packaging is also referred to as Salary Sacrifice. You give up part of your gross salary and, in return, your employer gives you a non-cash benefit (before tax), such as voluntary super contributions, school fees, leave fares or housing. Once you enter into salary packaging with your employer, your overall pay is lower, so you pay less tax but gain a great TAX BENEFIT for the items salary packaged. Are Voluntary Contributions under Salary Packaging Tax Free? Yes contributions are effectively tax free. However taxes apply to voluntary contributions made under Salary Fund. A residual tax of 2% apply as follows: years; or, years and is 50+ years old; or, beneficiaries. Less than 5 years Greater than 5 years, Less than 9 years Greater than 9 years, Less than 15 years Greater than 15 years the tax regime above which is in favour of long-term savers applies to withdrawals. Note as described under Withdrawal Tax Applicable, employer contributions also include voluntary contributions under salary packaging. What are the benefits of voluntary contributions under Salary Packaging? and minimal withdrawal tax in favour of long-term savers for retirement; seen as an alternative to life insurance. With the benefit of (premiums) and 2% tax on savings withdraw in the event of death. faster with the compounding Marginal rate of tax on employer contributions and accumulated interest The lesser of 15% or the marginal tax rate on employer contributions and accumulated interest The lesser of 8% or the marginal tax rate on employer contributions and accumulated interest 2% tax on employer contributions and accumulated interest effect. and well secured in a well regulated environment. How and when can I make voluntary contributions under Salary Packaging? Packaging Program to employers and members in April All will be informed accordingly through media and conferences. and education around tax benefits for employees and employers; template employer policy; template irrevocable deduction authority and guidelines on how to administer a salary packaging policy by the employer.

4 In NASFUND s endeavours to improve overall customer experience, the Fund has registered 11,000+ members as at 31st January 2018 for the Online and APP self-service. The numbers are continuing to grow rapidly with 3,000+ members actively using the Online and APP services weekly. NASFUND acknowledges employers that have taken it in their stride to deploy internet enabled PCs (internet kiosks), connected to printers at their work premises. This will enable members that don t have a PC, laptop or a smartphone to service their NASFUND needs such as checking their transaction histories or printing their statements without having to leave work. From a productivity point of view,that s bene cial to both employers and their employees. The e-commerce ecosystem is growing in PNG as the infographic below illustrates. When employers deploy internet kiosks at their work premises, not only will their employees be able to access NASFUND online services, but those other internet enabled services as well. Such as internet banking, mobile portals, airline online portals and NASFUND Contributors Savings and Loan Society (NCSL) online portal. NASFUND members are encouraged to register for the online services by ing online@nasfund.com.pg, visiting a branch or our website to download the registration form. Following that, you can also download the APP from Google Play Store or Apple App Store, install and activate.

5 Information Kiosks - Increasing Service Distribution In always putting member interests first, NASFUND is currently in the process of procuring and rolling out information kiosks within its branches automating and distributing member information through smartphone App, Online account access and, now with the rollout of nternet information kiosks. Provide a Benefit to Customers Self-service has to make something faster, cheaper or better for customers. NASFUND s information kiosks will be delivered to provide those three benefits. allow members three prints per year. Any quantity above that quota will attract a fee to be equitable to other members who don t request printouts. Members also have the option of ing documents to their s. Service Reliability NASFUND s information kiosks are being configured with inbuilt UPS systems and 4 channels for internet connectivity. Primary internet connectivity will run off the local LAN or WiFi network with further redundancy through 3 SIM Card slots for fail overs. Make Transactions Intuitive translated into an intuitive self-service process. interface is confusing, people are not going to stand there and figure it out. portals are as simple and intuitive that every member will feel at ease the first time they come into contact. Show Customers What to Do Ideally kiosks should be so intuitive that customers can figure out how to use them on their own. But just because you re offering self-service doesn t mean you should leave customers to fend entirely for themselves, especially when you launch a new system. NASFUND has a 12 month educational and awareness program in place to demonstrate the features of the self-service information kiosk to members and employers. Choose the Right Locations a lot to do with its success. NASFUND will deploy the information kiosks at our branches and major shopping centres around the country. Shopping centres open late into nights and over the weekends extending the availability from 5pms to 9pms week days and over the weekends. Beware of Legacy Systems PNG has moved on from the days of early 2000s where: mediocre, infancy, and unaffordable. distribution of information services through electronic channels close to impossible. NASFUND believes there is now an improved enabling environment in the technology and telecommunications space that addresses national legacy issues, an opportunity space to invest in improved service distribution to members. NASFUND s cloud-based information kiosks will have better mechanisms, intelligence and analytics built in to monitor if paper or ink is running low, if the machines are offline so services will be restored quickly and internet connectivity status to ensure the primary and 2-3 redundant SIM connections are readily available for failover management.

6 EMPLOYER ONLINE PORTAL Employer Benefits: Username Password... Forgotten your password? LOGIN form from, or If you are already a member of NASFUND but don t have a login yet, register now.

7 NASFUND s Employer Online Portal - easier and smarter, says POM Grammar. Dear NASFUND I am writing to tell you how pleased I am that we have been trained to use the Employer Online Portal for our NASFUND Remittance Schedules and collateral matters. As you know I have sometimes provided adverse (but honest) feedback on issues confronting me with the administration of NASFUND transactions, but on this occasion I am delighted that we can now benefit from the Employer Online Portal Facility and without a lot of those previous risks and annoying issues. A major and valuable step forward has been taken by NASFUND (and us), in my view. Over the last couple of days, Steven Mase and latterly Garo Dulume seemed only too pleased to introduce me to the proper use the Employer Online Portal. Although at Pom Grammar we only have about 100 Employees, the benefits of the new system are clearly evident to me as Administrator (& Payroll Certifying Officer) and will also be evident to the Staff/Members. For a start I (and our Staff) can see that the remittance of the contributions is secure; in fact just as secure as online banking in my experience. quickly to the Members Accounts that our Staff can check their balances very soon after I send the not possible before. I have said to our Staff You are now able to privately check that the deductions and contributions shown Garo Dulume seemed only too pleased to introduce Employer Online Portal to David Olley, Administrator, Port Moresby Grammar School. on your fortnightly Payslip, are credited to your account; and credited within a short space of time. Employer Online Portal will reject and notify me of any errors in our remittance ensures that not only is the value of contributions credited to the correct Member s Account, but also that our Payroll Data is correct. Your new NASFUND/Kina Bank System also helps the Employer comply with the provisions of the relevant Superannuation Laws which are regulated by the Bank of Papua New Guinea. Proper Superannuation is essential to having an enjoyable life in retirement after one s working life. In our first upload run using the Employer Online Portal, we discovered that a number of our Staff/NASFUND Members had changed their names or that Member Numbers were slightly wrong. Some of those mis-matches had obviously existed for a number of years, but from that initial upload at the Employer Online Portal, we have fixed the inconsistences and they will not happen again. Our relevant Payroll Data and NASFUND s relevant Member Data friendly to use and the prompts, drop-down-boxes and options make sense and are easy to understand. We are now taking the opportunity to encourage our Staff to update their NASFUND Records by completing the Member Details Update Form so that the new NASFUND/Kina Bank System is as relevant and helpful as it can be for each Member. It is terrific to now be able to access and use the Employer Online Portal and we thank you for making that possible and for being so patient and tolerant with me. I would encourage other Employers to waste no time in being trained to use NASFUND s Employer Online Portal and enjoy the benefits of an easier and smarter working-life with less risk and better informed Staff. With best wishes, Sincerely, David Olley Administrator, POM Grammer

8 Non Complying Employer Notice Superannuation industry regulator, Bank of PNG (BPNG), together with NASFUND and Nambawan Super are visiting non complying employers from Monday 26th February to 9th March complying with the Superannuation (General Provisions) Act 2000 to comply. On a public notice by BPNG on its website ( ), Governor Loi Bakani said it is an offence for an employer who does not comply with the Act and the non-complying employer will be prosecuted by the Central Bank under Section 114 of the Act. Governor of Bank of PNG Loi Bakani. Photo credit: ABC Penalties for non-compliance are a fine of up to K500,000.00, or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years, or both a fine and imprisonment. MEMBER ONLINE EMPLOYER ONLINE TEXTBAL materials Authorised by: Housing Advance Default Member Notice NASFUND urges members who defaulted on Housing Advance repayment to commence 2% deductions within 30 days (as at ) of publication of this Notice. It is a mandatory requirement, under Section 90 of the Superannuation (General Provisions) Act 2000 (the Act ) that a member must repay Housing Advance by a further 2% of contributions from the employee portion until the advance is repaid in full. From Wednesday 28th of March 2018: respective employers to do mandatory deductions to enforce the 2% repayment requirement of the Act. Members will be informed in due course for noting. Advance repayments, NASFUND will require proof on member pay-slips showing 2% deductions before Housing Advance funds are released.