ING wants to move the voluntary pensions from ING Life Insurance to ING Pension Fund
The two voluntary private pension funds (pillar III) administered by ING Life Insurance might be transferred from ING Life to ING Pension Fund, the mandatory private pension company (pillar II) of the Dutch group from Romania, stated today Radu VASILESCU, CEO of ING Pension Fund for www.privatepensions.ro. This intention could come true once CSSPP approves the norm regulating this type of transfer precisely.
CSSPP launched yesterday a public debate on a draft norm for transferring the administration of the voluntary pensions to a mandatory pension company. Mixed administration (both for voluntary pension and for mandatory pensions) by groups offering both products, but managed by different companies, makes sense in terms of streamlining the administration activity and reducing the operational costs, according to the representatives of the industry.
So far, ALLIANZ-TIRIAC Private Pensions is the only company managing both types of private pension funds. The secondary legislation (namely the CSSPP norms) allows for joint administration, but ALLIANZ-TIRIAC is so far the only company to take advantage of this norm. A new norm was needed for the transfer of voluntary pensions to the mandatory pension company - the one CSSPP launched yesterday in a public debate.
The representatives of ING commented today on the slow growth of the voluntary private pensions market, because mandatory pension clients did not understand the need to invest in pillar III as well. “The stated intent to buy a voluntary pension decreased over the last half of the year, as people failed to understand they need to invest in pillar III as well, not just in pillar II”, stated Bram BOON, Board Member at ING Pension Fund and former CEO of ING Life. He quoted a survey conducted by the research company NIELSEN Romania, indicating that the intention to buy a voluntary pension decreased over the past several months.
