SSS investment performance, frontline services need improvement, says DOF

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Finance (DOF) has called on the Social Security System (SSS) to further strengthen its financial position by improving the performance of its investments and enhancing its frontline services.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, who sits as ex-officio chairman of the Social Security Commission (SSC), said increased SSS contributions brought about by better collection efforts and the recently enacted Social Security Act of 2018 has helped extend the state pension fund’s actuarial life.

However, he said the government still needs to put in more work, especially with the growth in the number of beneficiaries possibly outpacing the growth in the number of actively employed members.

For one, he said the SSS needs to increase its income by improving the quality and performance of its investments.

“We need to institute better financial management and market engagement. With the rapid expansion of our domestic economy and improved business outlook, the SSS should be able to improve its earnings from investments,” Dominguez said in a speech, which was delivered for him by Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino during the SSS’ 62nd Anniversary celebration.

“Again, only improved financial activity will convince our members that their contributions are indeed investments in the future. Because of the size of the fund SSS manages, there should be no reason why our earnings should not be better than market averages,” he said.

Dominguez said there is also a need to reduce the pension fund’s overhead expenses by expanding the use of digital tools in improving services to its members.

“Investments in new digital technologies will not only make transactions with our clients more convenient, they will also save us money in the long run,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said the SSC should continuously monitor the state fund’s progress on these two aspects.

“This institution must be as reliable as it can possibly be and as efficient as all modern processing technologies enable it to become. The institution must incessantly prove itself worthy of the rising expectations of its members,” he said.

In line with these objectives, SSS president and chief executive officer Aurora Ignacio, in a press briefing, said the state pension fund is targeting to triple the number of web transactions it is processing from the current 10.54 million to 32.3 million in 2020.

Ignacio said the state fund wants to convince more members to process their transactions through the SSS’ digital tools rather than over-the-counter facilities.

“We recognize that it is a continuing challenge for us to shift our members and pensioners to use the self-service online facilities of SSS. We’re looking to turn the tables and make more members transact through online facilities instead of over-the-counter transactions. By 2020, we are targeting to triple the current 10.54 million web transactions to 32.2 million,” Ignacio said.

According to SSS data, 72 percent or 26.63 million out of the total 37.16 million transactions conducted by the SSS in the first half of 2019 were over-the-counter, while only 28 percent or 10.54 million were done through electronic channels.

SSS data also showed 5.49 million out of the 14.95 million individual SSS members are registered in its website as of June 2019.

“We hope to increase this number to about eight million in 2020 or an additional of more or less three million web-registered members,” Ignacio said.