THE Fiji National Provident Fund paid out about $100million in both lump sum and pension options yesterday.
This is the first batch of pension payment under the new age based pension scheme.
FNPF chief executive Aisake Taito said bulk of the payment was deposited into pensioners' bank accounts while some were paid out via pension orders.
The payment is particularly for pensioners who had completed their validation and selected their pension option by February 29.
"Some pensioners would have their pension payments updated to their accounts later today; while others would have this updated to their accounts early tomorrow morning," Mr Taito said.
Mr Taito also confirmed that some of the targeted pensioners would experience delays in receiving their payments.
"This is the first time FNPF is undertaking such an exercise, and we would like to ensure that we mitigate all risks associated with dealing with about 11,000 pensioner files."
He said FNPF would ensure that payments due to those that complied with the initial deadline would be processed and paid out within the next few days.
Mr Taito assured that pension payments will now be dealt with on a daily basis until the end of this month.
From next month all pension payments will be made either on the 14th day or the last working day of every month.
He said cash accounts to cater for all pension payments had been set aside with the commercial banks.
At the end of June 2011, the FNPF had set aside $565m to support future pension payments. It earlier confirmed that around $310m of this amount would be in refunds and another $100m in top up payments to support pensioners who decided to take up a new life annuity product.
The remaining $150m was to support FNPF Board to meet member liabilities and the new solvency requirements. The pension rates start at a minimum 9.7 per cent as compared to the previous rates of 25 and 15 per cent.
Meanwhile, the government has floated $20m worth of Fiji Government Viti Bonds, which it hopes would attract some pensioners who have opted for lump sum withdrawals.