NAMBAWAN Super Limited, acting as the corporate trustee for Papua New Guinea’s largest superannuation fund, has officially become a Founding Signatory to the voluntary, principles based PNG Empower Finance Code.
The landmark agreement was formalised during a high-profile signing ceremony held at the Crown Hotel in Port Moresby late last week.
The event formed part of a coordinated financial-sector initiative led by the Bank of Papua New Guinea, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation and Flequity Ventures.
Representing Nambawan Super at the signing ceremony was Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, Seema Dass-Raju, who signed the Code on behalf of Chief Executive Officer, Lachlan Baird.
The PNG Empower Finance Code specifically targets financial abuse, a widespread but underrecognised form of abuse where individuals use money or assets to manipulate, dominate, control or exploit partners and
family members. In Papua New Guinea, this regularly manifests when individuals are pressured to hand over their salaries on payday, or forced to leave their employment and prematurely exhaust their accumulated superannuation benefits.
By signing the Code, Nambawan Super commits to identifying and mitigating these structural vulnerabilities. For the Fund’s 245,000 plus Members, this partnership means their hard-earned retirement savings, forming part of Nambawan Super Limited’s circa K13 billion asset portfolio, will be better safeguarded against exploitative domestic and customary pressures.
This comprehensive protective framework highlights the modern evolution of the Fund; since the landmark legislative reforms to the superannuation laws in the early 2000s, Nambawan Super has transitioned from serving exclusively public servants to becoming an open-market institution built for everyone. Today, the Fund actively welcomes and invites employers and contributors from the private sector, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), non-government organisations (NGOs), the informal sector, and non-citizens to secure their financial futures with PNG’s largest, longest-serving and most trusted superannuation fund.
Nambawan Super Chief Executive Officer, Lachlan Baird, highlighted that the fund’s fiduciary duties go far beyond managing baseline financial returns.
Mr. Baird stated, “Superannuation represents the ultimate lifetime safety net for working Papua New Guineans, meaning our responsibility to protect these funds must extend into the home. Financial abuse directly erodes a Member’s economic independence and compromises their dignity in retirement.”
“Nambawan Super warmly commends the Bank of PNG for spearheading this initiative. By formalising a concerted effort with financial institutions to combat financial abuse, BPNG is leading the way as one of the first central banks in the world to do so – and we are proud to stand as a founding partner of the Empower Finance Code. Through this strategic partnership with the Bank of Papua New Guinea, Nambawan Super is reinforcing its commitment to look at financial safety through a broader lens. We are not just a vault for savings; we are active defenders of our Members’ long-term financial security. True to our ‘For Everyone’ ethos, we recognise that financial exploitation can affect any worker, whether they are salaried public servants, corporate private sector employees, or self-employed individuals in the informal economy.”
“By integrating financial abuse awareness into our nationwide literacy programs, we are giving our entire diverse membership the practical tools, clarity, and confidence to protect their wealth from exploitation.”
Nambawan Super Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, Seema Dass-Raju, stated that robust risk frameworks are critical to preventing financial exploitation. Ms. Dass-Raju stated, “Forcing a family member to surrender their bank cards, PINs, or superannuation capital is a severe violation that thrives in the shadows of low financial literacy, leaving families economically vulnerable and deeply damaging trust within the broader financial system.”
“By formalising alignment with the Central Bank’s Empower Finance Code, Nambawan Super is building operational blockades against these abuses. Risk and compliance at Nambawan Super is fundamentally about protecting people. We intend to closely scrutinise our service touchpoints to eliminate loopholes that permit coercion, ensuring that a Member’s retirement capital remains exclusively theirs to control, reinforcing our promise that our world-class governance and savings protections remain robustly for everyone.”
Moving forward, Nambawan Super will work alongside the Bank of Papua New Guinea and other participating peer institutions within the Empower Finance Community of Practice. This multi-year collaborative network will routinely share data, run structural audits, and co-design standardised financial inclusion protocols to build a safer economic ecosystem across the independent state of Papua New Guinea.