Business

FNPF unable to close zero balance accounts

December 4, 2021 4:45 pm

[File Photo]

Over 58,000 Fiji National Provident Fund members have zero balance in their accounts as at June this year.

The Fund in its Annual Report 2021 says the zero balance accounts have gradually become a contentious issue, wrongly interpreted and misconstrued.

It says while these 58, 712 accounts do not hold any monetary value, the Fund is unable to terminate them as laws prohibit the FNPF from doing so without members’ consent.

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The Fund also states that 25, 741 members above the age of 55 have no balance in their account while 188, 288 have less than $5000.

Zero balance accounts have no contributions coming in and continuous withdrawals depleting savings.

However, 98 percent of them are from the period when there was no policy for a mandatory preserved account.

Only 227 members have over $500,000 in their accounts.