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CATEGORIES

A completed entry will include:

  1. Entry Form
  2. 150 word company profile
  3. 1000 Word Submission
  4. Company Logo
    READ MORE ON HOW TO ENTER
    ENTRY FORM
    How to enter
    Nominating your company for an award can be a daunting experience if you’ve never done it before, but fortunately the entry process for the Ghana Pensions Awards could not be simpler – here’s how it works:
    Choose your categories
    You can enter as many categories as you like, submitting each entry separately via the online form. Visit the categories page to read the criteria.
    Write your main entry
    Your nomination will be judged on a supporting statement of no more than 1000 words. This should outline the type of work you have been doing in the pension fund space, be it in one or multiple European countries; any particular highlights over the last year; how your offering stands out from the rest in terms of excellence, innovation and, where relevant, performance; and what you have done to add value in the overall pensions space (for example, organized seminars, conferences, discussion papers etc).
    Write a brief company profile
    Tell us about your organization in 150 words or less. Your profile should give an overview of the company itself rather than the specific product, project or service, and may be used publicly in awards marketing material.
    Submit your nomination online via the entry form
    Upload all your documents (preferably in Word or PDF format) to the entry form and add your contact details so we can confirm that we’ve received your entry. Please note that there is a maximum 4mb size limit per file and our system may be unable to process your entry if you exceed this limit.
    Don’t forget your logo!
    A large, high quality company logo must be uploaded with each submission – if you’re nominating multiple companies for the same award please provide all relevant logos. If your entry is shortlisted, your logo will be displayed at the awards ceremony attended by hundreds of the leading names in the industry.
    Who can enter the Ghana Pensions Awards?
    The awards are open to any firm which serves pension funds in the country.
    How much does it cost to enter the awards?
    Nothing! The awards are and always have been completely free to enter.
    I’ve entered and received a confirmation email – what happens next?
    Soon after the awards close for entries, we will announce the shortlist, from which our judging panel will select the winners who will be announced at the Ghana Pensions Awards ceremony on 22 May 2020. The shortlist will be published on our website and all shortlist entrants will be notified by email.
    Read our guide to creating an awards entry
    Read our example awards entry
    TERMS & CONDITIONS:
    • Firms can enter more than one category.
    • Firms are encouraged to nominate themselves.
    • The award winners will be chosen by an extensive panel of INDEPENDENT expert judges, using a fair and transparent judging process.
    • Award entries must be kept to a maximum of 1000 words. Entries that exceed this word limit will be disqualified.
    • Additional material will not be accepted.
    • A clear time frame must be stated in the submission. The project should have been launched or come to fruition in the last 18 months.
    • Judges may not participate in those categories where there are conflicts of interest.
    WHY ENTER?
    • Stand out against the competition
    • Reward employees and motivate your team
    • Leverage your marketing – through PR and increased brand awareness
    • Attract talent
    • An opportunity to celebrate
    • If you are shortlisted your company logo will feature at the awards ceremony attended by hundreds of the leading names in the industry.

INDIVIDUAL CATEGORIES

  1. Trust Secretary of the Year
  2. Board of Trustees of the Year
  3. Chief Investment Officer of the Year
  4. Pensions Consultant of the Year
  5. Pensions Custodian of the Year
  6. Pensions Personality of the Year
  7. Pension Journalist / Columnist / Writer of the Year
  8. Pension Lifetime Achievement Award
  9. Corporate Trustee Ceo of the Year
    Evaluation Criteria – Individual Categories
    The judging process of the individual categories will be depended on the submissions received from or on behalf of the nominee(s). The judges expect a submission document in soft copies not exceeding 3000 words in total which will state clearly why they believe the nominated person should win. Please include a biography of the person being nominated on a separate sheet of paper. The basis for the award determined as outlined below:

(a) Pensions Consultant of the Year – Personal award for specific achievement in
advancing the interests of members and pension provision. Managers or
employees in the respective profession may nominate themselves for this award.
(b) Pension Custodian of the Year – Personal award for specific achievement in
advancing the interests of members and pension provision. Managers or
employees in the respective profession may nominate themselves for this award.
(c) Board of Trustee Chairman of the year – Award for the trustee board chairman
who has delivered the most for their scheme. Judges will look for evidence of
particular problems or challenges they have helped overcome and how they did
this along with innovations they helped the scheme to advance. Trustees and
trustee boards may nominate the individuals for this award.
(d) Trust Secretary of the Year – Award for the trustee board trust secretary who
has delivered the most for their scheme. Judges will look for evidence of
particular problems or challenges they have helped overcome and how they did
this along with innovations they helped the scheme to advance. Trustees and
trustee boards may nominate the individuals for this award.
(e) Chief Investment Officer of the year – The winner will have achieved growth and
excellent investment returns through strong, innovative leadership, strategic
thinking and successful achievement of stated investment aims.
(f) Pension Journalist/writer of the year – The winner will have published articles
on pension through journals, blogs, and newspaper columns on matters relating
to pension and will have created awareness on savings or investments in the
industry.
(g) Personality of the Year – This entry will be decided by Judges and will not
require any submission. The winning individual will be someone who has made
a personal contribution during the past 24 months to the success, growth,
development and profile of their organization/scheme and to the reputation of the industry.

SERVICE PROVIDER CATEGORIES

  1. Pension Fund Manager of the Year
  2. Third Party (External) Administrator of the Year
  3. Internal Administrator of the Year
  4. Corporate Trustee of the Year
  5. Custodian of the Year
  6. Pensions Consultancy firm of the year
  7. Fund Actuary of the Year
  8. Property Manager of the Year
  9. Approved Issuer of the Year
    Evaluation Criteria – Service Providers Categories
    The service providers’ categories will be evaluated based on innovations, performance and
    service offerings. There must be clear demonstration of how Judges will look at the extent at
    which the firm has developed its services, products and offerings for clients and the extent to which these services have helped pension schemes, employers, trustees and scheme
    members.
    Service Providers Category – Assessments Maximum Score %
    1.1 Innovations 30
    1.1.1 What specific innovations or new services have you launched over the 24 months?
    1.1.2 What is available in addition to the basic core and value added services that are
    provided?
    1.1.3 How do you liaise with clients to ensure developments continue to meet their
    needs?
    1.1.4 Which new services have been introduced over the past year and how successful
    have they proved?
    1.1.5 The extent to which these innovations helped pension schemes, sponsors,
    trustees and scheme members.
    1.2 Performance
    1.2.1 Has the firm been successful over the period? Can they describe and evidence
    their key success parameters?
    40
    1.2.2 How has the firm delivered excellent long term performance for its clients?
    1.2.3 How do you measure how well you are performing for clients and how do you
    monitor performance or service standards and act on the results?
    1.2.4 How frequently do account managers discuss performance and operational and
    service levels with clients on a face-to-face basis?
    1.2.5 How is the Design, Content and Visual Appearance of your Reports
    1.3 Service
    1.3.1 In what ways have you improved your service to clients over the 24 months? 30
    1.3.2 Have you provided any extra value services such as training courses, seminars or
    education to trustees/clients over the period?
    1.3.3 Do you carry out formal research with clients to measure how effectively you meet
    or exceed their expectations?
    1.3.4 How often do senior managers review operational standards against the service
    standards agreed with each client?
    1.3.5 How do you report to clients and how do you ensure they receive up-to-date and
    meaningful information in a format that meets their requirements?
    1.4 Additional disclosure for the fund managers
    1.4.1 What investment governance decisions exist?
    1.4.2 How is the research process conducted?
    1.4.3 Past 3 year performance for overall portfolio?
    TOTAL SCORE 100

PENSION FUND CATEGORIES

  1. Best Managed Individual Pension Plan
  2. Best Managed Umbrella Fund
  3. Best Managed Occupational Scheme
  4. Best Managed Public Sector Scheme
  5. Best Scheme on Governance
  6. Best Managed Income Drawdown Fund
  7. Best Managed Post-Retirement Medical Scheme
  8. Best Managed Micro Pension Scheme
  9. Best Scheme on Alternative Investments
    • Private Equity fund
    • Real Estate Investment Fund
    Evaluation Criteria – Best Scheme on Governance
    Governance is increasingly of significant importance to pension funds. This category will reward Schemes that have adopted high level of corporate governance in management of their schemes and the Judges will be looking at the following critical aspects of governance as a guide.

Best Scheme on governance – Assessment Maximum
Score %
1.1 Board Composition
1.1.1 Does the Board have, collectively, a mix of appropriate skills, knowledge
and experience? 5
1.1.2 Does the Scheme continuously review the terms of appointment of the
Trustees? What is the procedure of appointment? 5
1.1.3 Are there sufficient numbers in the Board and composition to achieve RBA
compliance requirement 5
1.1.4 Does the board meet the gender threshold (1/3 must be of the opposite
gender)? 5
1.1.5 Are regular Board meetings held – How often per year do the BoT meet? 5
1.1.6
Does the board have a succession plan i.e. a rotation plan for the Board in
order to avoid as much as possible the situation in which many Trustees
retire at the same time? 5
1.1.7 Does a Board Charter exist for the Trustees? 5
1.20 Conflict of Interest
1.2.1 Is there a policy to disclose any potential area of conflict that may
undermine their position as Trustees? 5
1.2.2 Has the entity disclosed whether it maintains a conflict of interest register?
5
1.30 Induction and Training
1.3.1 Is there an existence of an continuous skills development programme for
the Board during the year 5
1.3.2
Does the Scheme disclose whether members of the Board are given
induction training? 5
1.40 Board Performance
1.4.1 Does the Scheme disclose the mechanisms to monitor performance of the
board, committees and individual board members, including frequency and
effectiveness? 5
1.5 Remuneration
1.5.1 Does the Scheme have a remuneration policy for the Trustees which
provides clear establishments of a formal and transparent procedure for
remuneration of Trustees, approved by the Sponsor 5
_
1.6 Scheme Strategic Direction
1.6.1
Does the scheme have a vision and mission, business plan and strategic
plan prepared by the Trustees? How well is this disclosed in the annual
report and financial statements? 5
1.70 Conduct and Ethics
1.7.1 Is there a written code of conduct to be followed by the Trustees, members
and service providers 5
1.7.2 Does the entity disclose whether the code of ethics is distributed to all and
that all Trustees are required to confirm periodically in writing that they have
complied with the code of conduct? 5
1.80 Compliance/Statutory Accountability
1.8.1 Has the Board disclosed the existence of a process that identifies all
legislation relevant to the Scheme, and monitors changes to the legislation
and new legislation impacting on the Scheme? 5
1.9 Committees of the Board
1.9.1 Does the Board have any committee (s) and if yes, how effective are their
functioning and reporting 5
2 Policies and Procedures
2.1Does the scheme have any other documented policies and procedures? If
yes, how effective are they? 5
2.2 Does the entity maintain a risk register which is regularly reviewed by the
Board 5
TOTAL SCORE 100
Evaluation Criteria – Best Scheme on Alternative Investments
This award will recognise the schemes that have made best use of their alternative asset
strategies to achieve their investment objectives. Focus will be schemes that have invested in
Property, PE or infrastructure assets.
OTHER CATEGORIES

  1. Pension Law Firm of the Year
  2. Pensions Investment Innovation of the Year Award
  3. Best Pensions Education & Sensitization Initiative
  4. Pensions Educational Initiative of the Year
  5. Corporate Social Responsibility Award
  6. Pensions Insurance Firm of the Year
  7. Pensions Technology Provider of the Year
  8. Pensions Audit Firm of the year
  9. Corporate Trustee Client Service Excellence Award
@ Ghana Pensions Awards