Pension Fund Options in Nigeria (2026): RSA Funds I to VI Compared

Nigeria's Contributory Pension Scheme runs on a multi-fund structure with seven fund types, and most salaried contributors sit in RSA Fund II without ever choosing it. The rules, as published on the Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers multi-fund page and set by PenCom's Regulation on Investment of Pension Fund Assets, are short: Fund I is opt-in for under-50s who want more equities, Fund II is the default for under-50s, Fund III is the default from age 50, Fund IV is for retirees, Fund V is the Personal Pension Plan for the self-employed, Fund VI is the non-interest option in Active and Retiree versions, and Fund VII is dollar-denominated. A Muslim contributor who wants no interest income in the pension needs Fund VI, and the first switch in any twelve months is free.

Which RSA fund am I in today?

Your date of birth on your PFA's records decides it. Stanbic IBTC's general FAQ states that a contributor whose recorded age is under 50 is placed in Fund II by default, and is moved automatically to Fund III on reaching 50. A retiree drawing programmed withdrawal is in Fund IV. Nobody is placed in Fund I, Fund V, Fund VI or Fund VII by default; each of those requires a request or a separate registration. If you have never written to your PFA about fund choice and you are still working, you are in Fund II or Fund III, and your pension is invested in a mix that includes conventional bonds, treasury bills and bank placements.

That matters for a Muslim saver because the income on those instruments is interest. The retirement hub sets out why the pension is often the largest interest-bearing asset a Nigerian Muslim owns without realising it, and our Fund VI guide explains what the non-interest fund holds instead. This page puts all the fund types next to each other so you can see what a move actually changes.

RSA Fund I to Fund VII: the full table

The ceilings below are the maximum share of each fund that may sit in variable income instruments, which PenCom defines as ordinary shares, collective investment schemes, real estate investment trusts, infrastructure funds and private equity funds. The balance is fixed income. The figures are taken from the Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers RSA Fund Information and multi-fund pages, fetched on 15 September 2026; the structure is the same across every PFA because PenCom sets it.

One inconsistency is worth flagging. Stanbic's multi-fund page gives Fund II a 75% ceiling, while its general FAQ table gives 55%. PenCom's regulation, not a PFA web page, is the authority, and PenCom published a Revised Regulation on Investment of Pension Fund Assets on 24 September 2025 with an addendum on 25 March 2026. If the precise Fund II ceiling matters to you, download the current regulation from pencom.gov.ng rather than relying on either Stanbic number. For the decision this page is about, the point stands either way: Fund VI Active and Fund II carry the same order of equity exposure.

What variable income means and why the ceilings matter

Variable income instruments are those whose return cannot be fixed in advance and whose prices move daily; fixed income instruments pay a predetermined return. Stanbic's FAQ gives the reasoning PenCom used: younger contributors have time to recover from a bad year in equities, so Fund I allows the most, and the allowance falls through Fund II, III and IV as the contributor approaches drawdown. A 30-year-old in Fund I could have most of the pension in Nigerian shares; a retiree in Fund IV has almost none.

The ceilings are maximums, not targets. The 36-month compounded returns Stanbic publishes for September 2026 show Fund I at 24.7470%, Fund II at 20.9390%, Fund III at 15.9107% and Fund IV at 15.0793%; the ordering follows the ceilings, as you would expect in a period when Nigerian equities did well. Trustfund Pensions publishes the same series on its homepage, showing Fund I at 28.0435%, Fund II at 23.1203%, Fund III at 17.9214% and Fund IV at 16.2789% for August 2026. The fund type sets the risk band; the PFA decides where inside the band to sit.

How Fund VI Active and Fund VI Retiree differ from Fund II, III and IV

Fund VI is not a lower-risk fund; it is a screened fund. Fund VI Active carries the same 75% ceiling on variable income as Fund II, and Fund VI Retiree carries the same 10% ceiling as Fund IV. What changes is the list of instruments the PFA may buy: Shariah-screened equities instead of the whole market, sukuk instead of FGN bonds and treasury bills, and placements with non-interest banks instead of conventional fixed deposits. Stanbic's FAQ describes Fund VI as being for 'any active contributor who prefers his or her retirement savings to be invested in ethical, non-interest-bearing instruments', and its fund table notes that Fund VI Active is managed 'with ethical considerations'.

The fees are close to identical at the one PFA that publishes them fund by fund. Stanbic charges a N100 monthly administration fee on Funds I, II, III and VI Active, and N53.75 on Fund IV and Fund VI Retiree; its management fee is 1.6871% on Fund II against 1.6809% on Fund VI Active, and 7.5% of earned income on both Fund IV and Fund VI Retiree. CrusaderSterling Pensions states a N107.50 administration fee inclusive of VAT on its homepage, which is the same N100 charge with tax added. Moving to Fund VI therefore costs you nothing in fees.

At Trustfund the picture for August 2026 is mixed: Fund VI Active at 22.2836% sat slightly below its Fund II at 23.1203%, while Fund VI Retiree at 20.1631% was well above its Fund IV at 16.2789%. Three-year numbers from two PFAs in one strong period prove nothing about the future. They do show that the screen has not been a performance penalty in the period the PFAs publish, which is the fear that keeps most contributors from switching.

The switch rule: once a year free, and how a PFA processes it

Switching funds inside your PFA is different from transferring your RSA to another PFA. Stanbic's FAQ says an active contributor may switch fund type once in twelve months without a fee, that a further switch in that window attracts a fee set by PenCom, that the twelve months run from the first switch, and that you cannot switch more than twice in a year. Its multi-fund page phrases the free allowance as two switches; PenCom's regulation governs, so one free move a year is the safe assumption. The switch happens at the prevailing fund price on the day it is processed, and your balance moves whole.

• Confirm your data recapture is complete with your current PFA, because unresolved biodata is the commonest reason a switch request stalls.
• Log in to the PFA's portal or app and look for the multi-fund switch option; at Stanbic it sits on the My Pension Portal dashboard and under Requests in the mobile app.
• If you prefer paper, download the PFA's multi-fund switch form, sign it, attach a valid means of identification, and email it or hand it in at a branch.
• Keep the acknowledgement; your next quarterly statement should show the new fund name and a unit price that started at N1 when Fund VI launched.
• Diarise the date, because a second change inside twelve months is chargeable.

Transferring to a different PFA is governed separately by the Pension Reform Act 2014: once per calendar year, after data recapture, and not at all for a retiree who has already bought an annuity. Our step-by-step guide to switching to Fund VI walks through both routes with the forms named.

What you give up moving from Fund II to Fund VI, and what you do not

You give up the conventional universe. Fund VI cannot hold FGN bonds, treasury bills, bank fixed deposits or the shares of conventional banks, brewers and insurers, which together are a large slice of the Nigerian market. Your PFA's Fund VI manager must instead find FGN sukuk, corporate sukuk, screened equities and non-interest bank placements, and the supply of those is thinner. That is a concentration cost, not a fee cost, and it is the honest reason some PFAs' Fund VI portfolios lean heavily on a handful of sukuk issues.

You do not give up any statutory right. The 25% withdrawal after four months of unemployment, the use of up to 25% of the RSA balance as equity for a residential mortgage, programmed withdrawal at retirement, voluntary contributions, quarterly statements and PenCom's oversight apply to Fund VI exactly as they do to Fund II. You also do not change PFA, custodian or RSA PIN. One practical point from Stanbic's FAQ: because every RSA holder has one PIN, your voluntary contributions sit in the same fund as your mandatory ones, so a switch moves both. The zakat hub covers the separate question of whether a pension balance you cannot touch attracts zakat.

Who should stay put

A non-Muslim contributor, or a Muslim who is content with the conventional fund, has no regulatory reason to move; Fund II and Fund III are the defaults for good reasons of age and risk. A contributor over 50 should ask the PFA directly whether Fund VI Active is open to them, because Stanbic's FAQ table lists Fund VI Active 'for active contributors who are 49 years and below' while its fund-choice list says 'any active contributor'; the two pages disagree and the PFA should confirm in writing. Anyone with an RSA transfer or benefit application in progress should let it finish before adding a fund switch to the queue.

This page still matters for the saver who stays. Knowing that Fund I can be requested at any age under 50 is useful for a 28-year-old whose entire pension is in the balanced default, and knowing that Fund IV holders can move only to Fund VI Retiree tells a retiring couple that the ethical choice remains open after retirement, with the PFAs offering Fund VI compared as the next read.

Where micro pension, voluntary contributions and Fund VII fit

Fund V is now designated the Personal Pension Plan and split into a Conservative fund with a 5% variable income ceiling and a Growth fund with a 45% ceiling. Stanbic's FAQ lists who can register: self-employed people, informal sector workers, formal sector employees who want personal contributions on top of the mandatory ones, members of the armed forces and intelligence services previously exempt under the Act, and parents registering children under 18. Its page states that 50% of PPP contributions can be accessed after three months, contingent withdrawals are allowed no more than once every two months, and Stanbic charges a 3% management fee on the Growth fund. There is no non-interest version of Fund V published by any PFA we checked, which is the gap our micro pension guide for the self-employed addresses.

Voluntary contributions by an employee must come through the employer and are credited to the existing RSA, where they follow the fund of the mandatory balance. Fund VII, the dollar fund, takes contributions in US dollars from Nigerians abroad and residents earning in foreign currency, allows up to 30% in variable income, and lets up to 60% be withdrawn for contingent purposes with 40% kept for retirement; Stanbic lists a 1.70% management fee. Its investable list includes non-interest compliant funds, but Fund VII as a whole is not a Shariah fund and should not be treated as one.

The decision

If you are a Muslim employee under 50 and your pension is in Fund II, request Fund VI Active this quarter; it is free, it keeps the same equity ceiling and fees, and the published three-year numbers at the two PFAs that disclose them show no penalty for the screen. If you are over 50, ask your PFA in writing whether Fund VI Active is open to you and, if not, whether it will move you to Fund VI Retiree at retirement; the Stanbic pages are inconsistent on the age rule and you want the answer on paper. If you are retired and in Fund IV, the only switch available to you is Fund VI Retiree, and the published returns do not argue against it.

If you are self-employed, open a Personal Pension Plan and accept that Fund V has no non-interest version yet, or route your long-term savings through a Shariah fixed income fund instead. Start with Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers, which publishes the most fund-level detail, read our review of Stanbic as a Fund VI home, and compare it with Trustfund Pensions, which publishes a 36-month table for every fund type on its homepage. Facts checked against stanbicibtcpension.com, pencom.gov.ng, trustfundpensions.com, crusaderpensions.com on 15 September 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Which RSA fund is the default for a new contributor in Nigeria?

Fund II. Stanbic IBTC's FAQ states that a contributor whose recorded date of birth puts them under 50 is placed in Fund II on registration and moved to Fund III automatically at 50. Fund I, Fund VI and Fund VII are available only on request or separate registration, and Fund IV is for retirees.

What is the difference between Fund VI Active and Fund VI Retiree?

The age of the holder and the equity ceiling. Fund VI Active is for working contributors and may hold up to 75% in variable income instruments; Fund VI Retiree is for retirees and may hold up to 10%. Both exclude interest-bearing instruments. At Stanbic IBTC the Active fund carries a N100 monthly fee and a 1.6809% management fee, while the Retiree fund carries N53.75 monthly and 7.5% of earned income.

How many times can I switch RSA funds in a year?

Once free, and at most twice. Stanbic IBTC's FAQ says one switch within a PFA in twelve months is free, a further switch attracts a PenCom-determined fee, the twelve months run from the first switch, and no more than two switches are allowed in a year. Its multi-fund page describes two free switches; PenCom's regulation is the authority, so plan on one free move.

Is RSA Fund VI the same as Fund IV for retirees?

No. Fund IV is the conventional retiree fund with a 10% variable income ceiling and conventional fixed income. Fund VI Retiree has the same 10% ceiling but holds only non-interest instruments such as sukuk and non-interest bank placements. Stanbic IBTC's multi-fund page says a Fund IV participant may move only to Fund VI Retiree, so the ethical option remains open after retirement.

Do I lose any withdrawal rights by moving to Fund VI?

No. The 25% withdrawal after four months of unemployment, the use of up to 25% of the RSA balance as mortgage equity, programmed withdrawal, voluntary contributions and quarterly statements apply to every fund type. Fund VI changes the instruments your PFA may buy, not your rights under the Pension Reform Act 2014.

Where do voluntary contributions go if I am in Fund VI?

Into Fund VI with everything else. Every RSA holder has one PIN, so voluntary contributions remitted through your employer are credited to the same RSA and the same fund as your mandatory contributions. You cannot keep mandatory money in Fund II and voluntary money in Fund VI, or the reverse.