The retail segment represents 38% of the voluntary private pension market
Individual clients who pay their contribution for a voluntary private pension themselves (pillar III), without any monetary contribution from the employer, represent 38% of the total number of participants on this market, according to the data published by the Private Pension Supervisory Commission (CSSPP). A higher share (48%) belongs to the participants for whom only the employer is contributing to the voluntary pension, while 14% of the cases involve both parties (the employee and the employer) paying the contribution, according to the same data.
The individual clients represent the retail segment of the voluntary private pension market, while the cases where the contribution is paid only by the employer, or jointly, represents the market’s corporate segment, where the voluntary pension is part of the benefits package. According to a survey conducted by the portal www.privatepensions.ro, the retail segment increased from 32% at the end of March, to 38% at the end of May.
Almost 68% of the voluntary pension clients (pillar III) enjoy this benefit as part of the salary package, the employer paying in the account or to such a pension fund, according to a survey of www.privatepensions.ro, based on the data from the administrating companies. The information is valid for the end of March 2008, meaning the most recent data available on the market. For now, this evolution goes against the forecasts of the market representatives, who expected the corporate segment, dominating pillar III, to grow by the end of the year, as major employer accessed the system and individual clients seem to be relatively unresponsive.
At the end of March, the market’s largest voluntary pension fund - BCR Prudent, administered by BCR Life Insurance, was also the fund with the largest share of corporate contracts in the portfolio - 90%. But CSSPP did not publish more recent data, for each of the seven funds on the market.
Despite the relative decrease in the corporate share on the market, the contracts with major employers represent the main stake this year for the administrators of the voluntary private pension funds.
