Income of sss provident fund reaches p333.77m

THE Social Security System (SSS) announced on Monday that the pension fund’s mandatory provident fund for its members generated an income of P333.77 million with a corresponding return of 6.39 percent in the first year of its implementation.

SSS President and CEO Michael G. Regino was quoted in a statement as saying that the return of investment for the fund outperforms key market indicators such as the 10-year Treasury bond, which averaged 4.1 percent in 2021.

“Despite the pandemic, SSS investments continued to perform well and provided higher returns compared to other major investment benchmarks while adhering to principles of safety, good yield and liquidity,” Regino said. “Members who contributed to Wisp [Workers’ Investment and Saving program] have already gained a substantial earning last year considering it is only the first year of the program’s implementation.”

WISP is a provident fund scheme managed by the SSS intended as another savings for private-sector workers and other individual members. It was implemented in January 2021 as part of the landmark provisions under Republic Act 11199 (the Social Security Act of 2018). The program aims to help members to raise their savings for higher retirement benefits in the future.

“The provident fund is a safe, convenient, principal-protected and tax-free individual retirement savings plan which will supplement a member’s savings from the regular Social Security program,”

Regino explained.

“All private-sector employees, selfemployed individuals, OFW and voluntary members who have no final claim in the regular SSS program, have contributions in the regular SSS program and have a monthly salary credit that exceeds P20,000 are automatically covered by the program,” the SSS chief added.

He said that WISP contributions are paid together with the contributions in the regular SSS program. Earnings realized from WISP will be distributed proportionately based on the member’s contribution.

As of April 30, the SSS has collected more than P21 billion in contributions from more than four million members under the program.