The Centre for Consumer Concern has frowned at the recent National Pension Commission directives prohibiting loyalty rewards to retirement saving account holders.
The Centre spoke against the backdrop of the just concluded World Custom Loyalty Week.
The global event, held annually supports initiatives dedicated to customer rewards and recognition.
Justifying the need for the non-recognition of the loyalty reward system, PENCOM management claim this decision was informed by the need to ensure healthy competition among PFAs.
However, the Centre holds the views and very strongly too that this decision is an anomaly of regulator’s undue interference into PFA’s management strategies at retaining their customers.
The Executive Director of the Centre, Barr. Wale Adekola stated that loyalty programmes and rewards are special incentives and ways to attract and retain customers.
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According to him, consumers deserve all and everything that can put smiles to their faces in these trying times. “While I commend PENCOM for laudable initiatives in the past, this recent directive is a setback in their consumer protection efforts.
He stated that businesses all around the world take strategic steps to sustain their customers and the PFA’s should not be an exception.
PENCOM, he stressed, “Should not be seen to subtly protect certain PFA’s from the other. Let the industry strive and any PFA’s balance sheet that can sustain loyalty programmes should be left to do so.”
Echoing similar sentiments, the CEO of Consumertrics Nigeria, Mr. Muyiwa Ayojimi stated that stopping loyalty schemes in this sector will even stiffen competition, as such he said the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) should override PENCOM on this latest directive, given its powers and forge a truce for consumers.
Ayojimi stated that in the coming days, Consumetrics would issue an advisory to consumers on the top PFAs in Nigeria following a just concluded survey conducted by the firm.