A Pension Scheme

Superannuation as we know it today, started as a pension scheme on 8 June 1962 under the Papua and New Guinea Retirement Benefits Act 1960. While the pension scheme was available to all Public Service officers including teachers, in those days if you were a married female officer who was not the head of your family, you would not be eligible to participate. This exclusion continued after independence under the Retirement Benefits Fund Act Chapter 70. 

POSF

The Public Officers Superannuation Fund (POSF) was established by the Public Officers Superannuation Fund Ordinance 1971 (POSF Ordinance), which came into force on 23 December 1971.

The POSF Ordinance provided for certain officers and employees of the Public Service, members of the Police Force and Approved Authorities. After Independence the Public Officers Superannuation Fund Act Chapter 66 provided for superannuation. Married women however, still continued to be excluded from contributing to the Fund until 1988 when the Public Officers Superannuation Fund (Amendment) Act 1988, provided an option for married female officers of the Public Service to contribute to the Fund.

POSF Act 1990

In 1991, the POSF Act Chapter 66 was amended by the Public Officers Superannuation Fund Act 1990 (POSF Act 1990). The POSF Act 1990 repealed the Retirement Benefit Fund Act Chapter 70 and the Public Officers Superannuation Fund Act Chapter 66 and merged the Retirement Benefit Fund with the Public Officers Superannuation Fund. The POSF Act 1990 transferred the assets and liabilities of the former Fund to the new Fund as at 1 January 1991. 

This Act made superannuation compulsory for all officers and employees of the Public Service without any discrimination.

SGP Act

In 2000, the Government of Sir Mekere Morauta introduced sweeping reforms to the financial industry. This saw the introduction of the Superannuation (General Provision) Act 2000 (SGP Act) which brought the superannuation industry under the regulation of the Central Bank.

The SGP Act provides for the Central Bank to authorize the operation of a fund as a superannuation fund where the Central Bank is satisfied that the fund has a licensed trustee, a licensed investment manager, and a licensed fund administrator to operate as an accumulation fund.

The Public Officers Superannuation Fund was authorized to operate as a superannuation fund as it had Nambawan Super Ltd as the corporate trustee, Kina Investment and Superannuation Services Ltd as the Fund Administrator and Kina Fund Managers as the Licensed Investment Manager.

The change to the superannuation industry saw the exponential growth of the Fund from a K500 million fund in 2000 to a K4.1 billion fund in 2014, to a now close to K10 billion fund - and continues to grow stronger every day.