So far, no company has been licensed as a manager of mandatory private pensions, but as many as 12 companies are on the waiting list.

The last three companies to have submitted a formal application to enter the market of mandatory private pensions (pillar II) are OTP, Generali Asigurari and AIG Life. They joined the nine companies that had already filed similar applications by last week, according to information Mircea Oancea, the chairman of the Private Pension System Supervisory Commission (CSSPP), made available for ZF.

"The number of companies interested in the market has already reached the Commission's prior estimates, of 10-12 management companies," commented Oancea.

Though the process of joining funds has to be carried out during August-November and there is less than a month left until the start, no company has been granted the license to operate as a mandatory pension manager so far.

Mircea Oancea says, however, there is enough time and application of the system will be on schedule.

"Many of the companies included on the waiting list are already in advanced stages of licensing," said Oancea, hinting that during one of its future meetings, the CSSPP Board is likely to issue its first licensing decisions.

With the manager license, a company also gets the authorisation for the prospectus related to the mandatory pension scheme. By law, each management company is allowed to manage a single mandatory pension fund. Once it becomes a pension manager, each company has to attract five founding members for the fund and then wait for the decision authorising the fund to start looking for clients.

As a matter of fact, says CSSPP chairman, the start of mandatory pensions will be certainly faster than in the case of voluntary pensions, as administrative procedures are simpler.

The actual start date for joining the pensi