THIRTEEN Bulgarian banks will act as trustees of the money accumulated by pension funds, the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) announced last week.
The commission announced the names of the banks in two batches.
The first six were Municipal Bank, CIBank, Rosseximbank, First Eastern International Bank, Corporate Bank and Investbank.
The approved banks will in fact be dealing with the money contributed to pension funds, which Bulgarians have chosen for their second pension, out of the National Social Security Institute (NSSI).
Viewing the first six banks on the list, sector analysts said that the central bank had by that point only named banks that had Bulgarian owners, despite the fact that some of them had the image of allegedly having questionable connections.
On Wednesday, the FSC announced that it had approved the other seven banks, nominated by the BNB. These were Bulbank, Allianz Bulgaria Bank, United Bulgarian Bank, DSK Bank, ING Bank, Biochim Bank and Postbank. No further details were revealed. These represent the country's biggest banks, with the participation of foreign financial institutions, and their good reputation is likely to attract the interest of the pension funds.
At the end of March, the FSC reported that Bulgaria's private pension funds had once again brought a good return on investment in 2003 to those who contributed to them. The gross capital increase of all three kinds of pension funds operating in Bulgaria - universal, voluntary and professional - was 11 per cent in 2003. The increase does not take into account the fees charged by the pension funds for administering the individual accounts, which stand at 10 per cent of the yield for voluntary pension funds and at one per cent of the total funds accumulated in universal and professional pension funds.
The yield registered by the private pension funds was 4.4 percentage points higher than inflation in the country in 2003, which stood at 5.6 per cent. As a comparison, the average interest rate offered by local banks for deposits in leva was 5.38 per cent in 2003, resulting in losses for those who chose only that instrument to hedge against inflation.
The growth is expected to continue as the minimum salary share contribution to private pension funds was increased to three per cent from January 1, 2004 (by the end of 2003 it was two per cent).
Last week, the NSSI said that it had transferred 283 million leva to private pension funds, as the money first goes to the institute with all the contributions that the insured employees pay. A total of 134 million had been transferred to universal funds, and 149 million to professional and voluntary funds.
- Business Staff
The commission announced the names of the banks in two batches.
The first six were Municipal Bank, CIBank, Rosseximbank, First Eastern International Bank, Corporate Bank and Investbank.
The approved banks will in fact be dealing with the money contributed to pension funds, which Bulgarians have chosen for their second pension, out of the National Social Security Institute (NSSI).
Viewing the first six banks on the list, sector analysts said that the central bank had by that point only named banks that had Bulgarian owners, despite the fact that some of them had the image of allegedly having questionable connections.
On Wednesday, the FSC announced that it had approved the other seven banks, nominated by the BNB. These were Bulbank, Allianz Bulgaria Bank, United Bulgarian Bank, DSK Bank, ING Bank, Biochim Bank and Postbank. No further details were revealed. These represent the country's biggest banks, with the participation of foreign financial institutions, and their good reputation is likely to attract the interest of the pension funds.
At the end of March, the FSC reported that Bulgaria's private pension funds had once again brought a good return on investment in 2003 to those who contributed to them. The gross capital increase of all three kinds of pension funds operating in Bulgaria - universal, voluntary and professional - was 11 per cent in 2003. The increase does not take into account the fees charged by the pension funds for administering the individual accounts, which stand at 10 per cent of the yield for voluntary pension funds and at one per cent of the total funds accumulated in universal and professional pension funds.
The yield registered by the private pension funds was 4.4 percentage points higher than inflation in the country in 2003, which stood at 5.6 per cent. As a comparison, the average interest rate offered by local banks for deposits in leva was 5.38 per cent in 2003, resulting in losses for those who chose only that instrument to hedge against inflation.
The growth is expected to continue as the minimum salary share contribution to private pension funds was increased to three per cent from January 1, 2004 (by the end of 2003 it was two per cent).
Last week, the NSSI said that it had transferred 283 million leva to private pension funds, as the money first goes to the institute with all the contributions that the insured employees pay. A total of 134 million had been transferred to universal funds, and 149 million to professional and voluntary funds.
- Business Staff
