The biggest stake on the private pension market next year is how the supervisory authority will calculate for the first time the yield of the mandatory pension funds (pillar II), in June, two years from their launch, because this calculation could drive some players out of the market.
More exactly, the law says that any fund with a lower profitability level than the market average (average profitability weighted by the value of the assets minus a few percentage points) for a year may lose its operating licence.
In case the benchmark of the market - minimum profitability - will be the weighted average of all funds, of which several percentage points will be deducted as is the case on the voluntary pension market, the major pension funds will shape the market and their yield will influence the fate of the other players.
The number of funds on the market has already halved since launch, from 18 to 9, because some managers left the business, despite having invested at least several million euros each, and others merged.
"The calculation of the average yield weighted by the value of assets is a high stake situation, there is a risk of having small funds below the average," said Mircea Oancea, chairman of the Private Pension System Supervisory Commission (CSSPP), specifying that talks were being held at the moment to decide how to calculate profitability.
The top two players on the local market, ING and Allianz-Tiriac, account for more than 60% of the total assets and therefore influence the average..
The guidelines for the calculation of the profitability of mandatory pension funds has not been published by the CSSPP yet, but a system similar to the one in place on the voluntary pension market is being discussed, where the reference of the market is a average profitability weighted by the value of the assets, of which four percent
