FNPF terminates staff over missing cheques

The Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) has terminated a staff member who is now under police investigation for cashing members’ cheques.

The Fund’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr Jaoji Koroi, said the staff concerned was suspended last week whilst internal investigation were also conducted.

KOROI: “Yesterday, we have terminated the staff concerned, who will now also face the full brunt of the law. The Fund takes seriously its fiduciary duties to our members and we have had to act immediately to safeguard our members’ interest.”

Mr. Koroi confirmed that all member payments have been honoured by the Fund.

KOROI: “We would like to assure our members that all payments due to them will be paid out. “This is an unfortunate and isolated incident, and it does not reflect the continued commitment by the FNPF Board and Staff to protect and safeguard members’ hard-earned retirement savings.”

Mr. Koroi also confirmed that there are two other incidents involving members of the public who impersonated members to collect cheques from FNPF.

KOROI: “We reiterate that the Fund has completely reviewed our cheque collection process to ensure that all cheques are paid to the rightful owners/members. We call on members to uplift their TC Winston assistance cheques as there are more than 2000 uncollected cheques still with the Fund.”

“We also urge all our members to open a bank account to enable us to electronically transfer payments from the Fund to their personal accounts as this is a more convenient mode of payment.”

Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro confirmed that the case is currently being investigated.

NAISORO: “Yes we have received two cases, one was on the 27th and one was on the 29th which alleged two employees tried to cash the cheques amounting up to $20,000. The first one was $15,000 and the second one was $5,000.”

“We are just waiting for some more documents from FNPF, ACP Luke Navela has instructed that we get things done so that we can proceed to questioning of the suspects.”

The FNPF has paid out about $259.3 million for 173,836 applications for the TC Winston Natural Disaster Assistance to date.

In a statement issued today, the fund’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Jaoji Koroi said the Fund will cease processing all Natural Disaster applications by the 30th of April 2016.

According to Mr. Koroi, whilst most functional areas of the Fund have returned to normal, there are 4 specific areas of work that are still being attended to by FNPF.

These includes:

• 3700 queried applications
  These are applications where members have submitted without any property details, wrong
  personal details inclusive of member names and member signatures, no signatures, wrong
  bank details, incomplete forms etc. The FNPF team will either contact these members again to verify or will terminate the applications accordingly.
• 1300 applications that are currently under process
  These applications were initially queried but have been rectified and need to be processed
  through to payments.
•  2700 reverse payments
  These are payments that have been made to wrong accounts due to incorrect payment details provided by members. To rectify this, the commercial banks need to return the funds back to FNPF which takes 5 working days, the members is then requested to provide the correct details before we facilitate payments. We are exploring the alternative of issuing cheques.
• 2500 uncollected cheques
  A total of 2,500 cheques are still due for collection from members. If cheques are not collected by end of April, we will deposit the funds back to the members FNPF account. We, therefore, urge all members who opted for cheque payments to collect their cheques before this deadline.

A total of 5,700 applications have been rejected or terminated for various reasons including nil/low eligibility and non-compliance to statutory declarations requirements.

The Fiji National Provident Fund is on target to complete processing members’ applications for the TC Winston assistance by Monday, 4 April.

As of 1pm today (Fri, 1/4), FNPF has paid out $182.4million for 140,000 applications. Approximately 25,000 applications would be processed over the next two days.

FNPF Chief Operating Officer, Mr Jaoji Koroi said FNPF is confident that by Monday afternoon, all duly completed applications would be paid out.

Only queried applications will be processed after Monday, for another two weeks.

Our staff will be contacting the members concerned to gather the necessary information required for their applications. We ask these members to be forthcoming with additional information needed for their applications.

Mr Koroi has also confirmed that FNPF will resume distributing cheques to those members who opted for such payments from Monday, 4th April.

ANZ House will open its doors once again for members tomorrow (Sat, 2/4) for cheque collection and encashment.

We acknowledge the assistance provided by ANZ, who stepped in to fill this critical responsibility to free up our resources so that we can concentrate on processing member’s applications.

From Monday, members in Suva can collect their cheques from the FNPF Headquarters at Downtown Boulevard. Members based in other centres can collect their cheques from the branches and agencies nearest to them.

It’s important though that members call us first to confirm that their cheques are ready before they come in to collect these.

He also confirmed that ANZ and BSP will cash the cheques for members at no cost.

Mr Koroi commended members for their patience and understanding in delays in processing given the high volume of applications received.

We have actually processed in five weeks, what we would have normally received and processed in two years.

It has been a daunting and challenging experience for FNPF and I wish to commend the dedication and commitment by the staff, who have worked long hours and weekends to deliver this service to our members

We are sure that the learnings from this experience will help us lift our service standards to ultimately benefit our members.”

FNPF pays out $135.6million to 111,224 applicants (29/03/16)

The Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) cleared an additional $35 million for 26,224 Cyclone Winston natural disaster applications during the Easter long weekend.

Total paid out to members as of 1pm today (Tues, 29/3) is $135.6 million.

FNPF Chief Operating Officer, Mr Jaoji Koroi has reaffirmed the Fund’s commitment to members that all duly-completed applications will be processed and paid out by the 4th of April 2016.

All our resources have been diverted to this exercise to meet this deadline. Again, our staff will work long hours this week and also work this weekend to process applications from members.

Mr Koroi said that only queried applications will be handled after the deadline.

The biggest challenge in regards to queried applications are the incomplete forms. So, we have a dedicated team dealing with these applications, and our staffs are contacting these members to have them complete the statutory declaration forms.

He confirmed that overseas-based members will be validated this week. About 300 applications have been received from these members.

Our staff will be vetting and validating these members in the next few days via skype and other communication channels.

We would also like to thank our members for their patience in the past few weeks. For those, who have yet to be paid, we plead for your understanding and patience once again.

All duly-completed applications will be paid out by 4th April – that is our assurance to all our members.

FNPF opened the Cyclone Winston Natural Disaster Assistance on 25th February and received a total of 146,000 applications by the final day of submission on the 18th of March 2016.

FNPF pays out $100million to 85,000 applicants (25/03/16)

The Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) has slightly paid out over $100million to 85,000 applications out of the 146,000 received.

In a statement released yesterday, FNPF’s Chief Operating Officer Mr Jaoji Koroi gave this assurance and is calling for the members continued patience and understanding in regards to the processing time.

Given the huge volume of applications, we are not able to meet our normal turnaround time. But we are committing all our resources to turn around all applications by the 4th of April. FNPF staff are working long hours and during the Easter weekend to ensure that we meet our target.

FNPF has assured its members that all applications for the TC Winston Natural Disaster assistance, would be processed and paid out by 4th of April, 2016.

Currently, 3,430 applications are on queried status because of incomplete forms and incorrect personal details. 1,300 applications have eligibilities less than $10 and over 300 payments were returned by the banks due to incorrect or closed bank accounts provided by members.

We know that there are a lot of anxious members out there who would like to receive their funds for rehabilitation works associated with the damage by Cyclone Winston. We will ensure that your funds will be paid out but just allow us time to complete the processing given the magnitude of the work required here.

Mr. Koroi also confirmed that all applications received are digitized or scanned and there is minimal likelihood of applications being lost or misplaced.

We have both the physical and soft copy of all applications received.

Mr. Koroi said that after the 4th of April, only applications that have been queried will be dealt with by a specific team.

A team is currently handling all queried applications which may take longer for the Fund to process.

FNPF pays out  $73.3m, receives 146,000 applications (25/03/16)

As of 1pm today (Tues 22/3), the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) has paid out $73.3million for 66,967 applications out of 146,000.

In a statement released today, the total applications received so far is 146,000, of which about 30,000 or 20% are for the $5000 assistance.

The Fiji National Provident Fund is urging its members to be patient and allow the staff to process applications received for the Natural Disaster assistance.

The Fund’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr Jaoji Koroi, said FNPF needed to free its resources to process and pay all applications received so far.

We are urging our members not to come to our offices to follow up as you are only congesting the office, disrupt normal process and tying up resources that could be used to process your applications.

If you are following up, please call us on 5670 or contact us via email as we have dedicated staff manning both avenues and we have also increased our capacity to answer phone calls from members.

Mr Koroi said the payout for the TC Winston assistance is unprecedented in its 50 years history.

When you put things into perspective, the total number of applications we have received in the last three weeks is more than the total number of applications received for 2014 and 2015.

It is our plea that members can comprehend the magnitude of the work we are faced with and give us the opportunity to complete the task before us.

We appreciate their continued patience and understanding.

FNPF pays out $57.6m, receives 150,000 applications (19/03/16)

As applications to the natural disaster assistance came to an end yesterday, the FNPF estimates that a total of 150,000 applications were received, out of which 48,714 applications have been paid out worth $57.6 million.

In a statement released yesterday, Chief Operating Officer of the FNPF, Mr Jaoji Koroi said that the Fiji National Provident Fund will focus on clearing all applications received from members for the Cyclone Winston natural disaster assistance.

Mr Koroi added that the applications received in the last three weeks is equivalent to what we would normally process over 2 years with total applications received for 2015 was 65,713 and 2014 was 56,230.

So, we hope that members can understand and put into perspective the quantum of work required to process these applications.

The closure means that we can free up more resources to concentrate on processing and payments.

At this stage, we cannot promise a turnaround time given the high number of applications received. But I can assure the member that FNPF will divert all resources to ensuring that all applications are processed as quickly as possible.

Mr Koroi confirmed that ANZ bank in Suva will open today (Saturday 19/3) to cater for those members who opted for cheque payments.

Members who opted for cheque payments need to first get confirmation that their cheques have been issued to ANZ before they present themselves at the bank.

Meanwhile, Mr. Koroi said that FNPF may revisit areas devastated by TC Winston to ensure that members in these areas can access their FNPF funds for rehabilitation works.

FNPF pays out $34.7m, receives 120,000 applications (16/03/2016)

Two days before the closure of FNPF’s Cyclone Winston Natural Disaster Assistance, the Fund has confirmed that it has received more than 120,000 applications from members, of which 33,000 have been paid out totalling $34.7million.

In a statement released yesterday, the Fund’s Chief Operating Officer Mr Jaoji Koroi has assured members that it will process all applications submitted by members if they have provided all the required information.

We are taking all necessary measures to ascertain details provided by members as accurate as stated on members FNPF records.

Some of the challenges faced by the Fund include:

• Incomplete statutory declaration forms
• Incorrect date of births (DOBs)
• Incorrect or closed bank accounts

A lot of unnecessary rework arises from incorrect and incomplete forms. Members need to be sure of the information they provide us to help us process these applications faster.

A lot of our resources is also being diverted to members following up on their applications. These slows down processing and again, we seek members understanding on this.

We have had a large number of reversals from the banks given the incorrect bank details provided by members.”

Members also need to be wary of individuals who have been identified to be impersonating members of FNPF. We urge members to be alert at all times.

Mr Koroi said the Fund has also engaged service providers to update members on their applications. Yesterday, FNPF engaged ANZ to distribute cheques to those members who opted for this mode of payment.

He reminded members that the funds deducted from the natural disaster assistance will be taken from their General Account.

Any withdrawal from the General Account directly reduces the amount available in future for pre-retirement withdrawals inclusive of unemployment, funeral, education and medical grounds.

Again, we plead for members’ understanding on the high volume of work that needs to be undertaken.