Pension fund regulator's fee tweak may not be enough to attract NPS distributors
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A change in the way commissions are structured for onboarding clients to the National Pension System (NPS) may still fail to draw significant interest from distributors, experts said.Points of Presence (PoPs), the intermediaries that act as the primary customer interface for the NPS, can now earn 0.20% of the assets under management per annum as a trail commission in addition to a one-time onboarding fee of ₹200 when a new client is registered, the Pension Fund Regulatory Authority of India (PFRDA) said in a circular on 10 March.Before this, trail commissions—a recurring fee paid to distributors as long as a client remains invested—were not allowed. Distributors could only charge a direct fee of ₹200-300 per customer.PoPs are regulated institutions appointed by the PFRDA to provide services to all citizens seeking to open and operate their NPS accounts.
They carry out services including KYC verification and subscriber registration and receive contribution instructions. Even after the latest change, earnings for PoPs remain significantly lower than those offered by mutual funds.Moreover, experts said pension agents engaged by PoPs to distribute products and expand last-mile reach may get only a part of the 20-basis point (bps) commission.“PoPs may pass on a portion of the commission and will retain the balance,” said Subhasis Ghosh, chief executive officer at Kotak Mahindra Pension Fund.
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