Factors Influencing Asset Growth of Retirement Benefits Schemes: A Case of CFC Life Assurance Managed Schemes

Retirement Scheme are the principal sources of retirement income for millions of people in the world. Retirement Schemes are also important contributors to the gross domestic product (GDP) of countries. This study focused on Retirement Schemes in Kenya where Retirement income accounts for 68% of the total income of retirees.  Recent data shows that from the year 2001 the assets grew from Kshs 97 Billionn to stand at Kshs 471 Billion as of on June 2012 (RBA, 2012).

This study aimed at determining the factors that influence the growth of Retirement Schemes assets.

The study adopted a case study of CfC Life Insurance a leading retirement approved issuer in Kenya with assets above Kshs 7.5 billion and to achieve the objectives research questionnaires were used for the study. The target population was drawn from the 35 staff in different managerial levels employed at CfC Life, Retirement Benefits Department.

Primary data was gathered directly from respondents by means of a questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics using SPSS and presented through mean, standard deviations and frequencies. This was achieved by tallying up responses, computing percentages of variations in response as well as describing and interpreting the data in line with the study objectives and assumptions through use of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).

The study revealed a positive relationship between fund governance, risk management, investment strategy and size of the fund all collectively have a positive relationship to growth of retirement scheme assets.

The study found that investment strategy, risk management and size of the fund have a strong influence on growth of the fund while fund governance does not exert significant relationship to the growth of the fund assets.