Nigeria’s pension industry added 143,248 new Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) in the first quarter of 2026, as Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers retained its lead in new registrations while the grip of the largest pension fund administrators on new business eased.
Stanbic IBTC registered 25,024 new RSAs, representing 17.47 percent of all registrations during the quarter, according to the National Pension Commission’s Q1 2026 Quarterly Industry Report. AccessARM Pension Managers followed with 15,234 accounts, while FCMB Pensions recorded 14,542.
The increase lifted cumulative formal Contributory Pension Scheme membership to 11.18 million at the end of March, from 11.04 million at the end of 2025. The pace of new registrations also accelerated from the 114,864 accounts opened in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The five largest PFAs accounted for 54.41 percent of new registrations, down from 62.11 percent in the preceding quarter. PenCom described the decline as a mild easing in concentration, although the largest operators still captured more than half of new accounts.
TangerineAPT emerged among the five largest account gatherers, securing 13,827 new registrations, equivalent to 9.65 percent of the quarterly total. PenCom said its emergence into the top five was a signal that the market was not settled, while competition was intensifying among mid-tier operators.
The new contributors were predominantly young. 57,256 new accounts, or 39.97 percent, belonged to people below 30, while another 50,622, representing 35.34 percent, were aged 30 to 39. Combined, contributors below 40 accounted for more than three-quarters of new registrations.
That expanding young contributor base comes alongside a pension portfolio that remains heavily invested in government securities. Federal government securities accounted for 58.07 percent of industry net asset value at March 2026, although domestic equities increased to 18.50 percent from 14.41 percent at year-end.
Meanwhile, total pension assets rose 7.53 percent to N29.52 trillion during the quarter. PenCom said the increase was driven largely by a N1.50 trillion rise in the value of domestic quoted equities, which exceeded the contribution flow during the period.
Despite the growth, formal pension participation remains limited. Active membership represents about 12.1 percent of Nigeria’s estimated 92 million labour force, leaving substantial room for expansion, particularly in the informal sector.
The report presents an industry growing on two fronts: more Nigerians are entering the formal pension system, while competition for new contributors is gradually broadening beyond the dominant operators. The longer-term challenge is converting that expanding membership into adequately funded retirement savings.
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