CASE NO: NBFIT – 0005/2022

APPLICANT 5 v. NBFIRA
NON-BANK FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS TRIBUNAL
CASE NO: NBFIT – 0005/2022

Sector - Retirement Funds
1.    Issue
1.1.    Withdrawal of remaining 2/3 of pension benefits after retirement and purchase of annuity, whether permitted by law.

2.    Summary of Facts
2.1.    In the matter between Applicant 5 v. NBFIRA case number NBFIT-0005/2022, the Applicant lodged his appeal against the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) after the Authority did not allow his appeal against Alexandar Forbes Administrators Botswana’s (AFAB) refusal to pay his entire pension benefit. Applicant was retrenched from the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation on or around 2008. Upon his retrenchment, he received a quarter of his pension benefit. Upon his retirement in 2021, the Applicant also commuted one-third of his pension benefit and bought an annuity with his two-thirds. He however sought to encash his remaining benefit from his pension to allow him to support his child and to liquidate some of his loans. His request was not acceded to by both AFAB and the Authority.

3.    Issues for determination by the Tribunal
3.1.    Whether a retired person who has purchased an annuity policy still has an option to withdraw the remaining two-thirds of his pension benefit as a single lumpsum.

4.    Relevant Provision of the Law

5.    Determination
The Tribunal dismissed the application for the following reasons:
5.1.    Applicant retired in December 2021 during the tenure of the Retirement Funds Act, 2014, but the review application was only filed in November 2022 after the 2014 Act was repealed and replaced by the Retirement Funds Act, 2022.

5.2.    The applicant’s matter was to be regulated by the repealed 2014 Act as the new Act does not apply retrospectively.

5.3.    The repealed 2014 Act did not allow for members to cancel their annuity to enable them to withdraw the entire benefit as a cash lumpsum under any circumstances.

Full Judgement Here