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Bill to give loan collateral for pension fund members
2008-04-17 10:39:21
By Correspondent Austin Beyadi
A new bill that will allow social security funds to give collaterals to members seeking loans will be read during the on-going Parliament session in Dodoma, it has been learnt.
The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) chief public relations and customer services officer, Eunice Chiume, revealed this yesterday in Dar es Salaam when she spoke to `The Guardian`.
She said that the bill is intended for a new law that would officially legalise collaterals issued by social security funds based on a member`s contribution.
Some legislators had suggested that social security funds like NSSF, Parastatal Pensions Fund (PPF) and Local Authority Pensions Fund (LAPF) should start offering loans to their respective members.
However, she said, the funds would not issue loans to members because that was not part of their policy, but clarified that they would give loans only to companies that would meet the requisite conditions.
``The funds` establishing policies do not allow members to access loans from them, but rather allow them to invest by depositing money,`` she said.
Chiume said that the new bill would allow the fund to provide collaterals to the members intending to access loans, especially from commercial banks.
She said that NSSF was making final arrangements to issue new member cards which would enable the members to get access to the fund`s services.
She said that the cards would be working as similar as those issued by banks where a member would go to an auto teller machine (ATM) to check his/her accounts` status.
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