Rules of the game

In the process of agreeing on the pension concept, opposing ministries come up with legislative initiatives that could strengthen their positions. Following the Ministry of Labor, which submitted to the government a bill enshrining a number of provisions of the concept it developed, the Ministry of Finance prepared its own bill. The draft amendments to the law “On Non-State Pension Funds”, published on the Ministry of Finance website, help reduce the claims contained in the Ministry of Labor’s concept regarding high risks and insufficient transparency of the non-state pension fund market. In particular, the Ministry of Finance proposes to oblige non-state pension funds to create pooled guarantee funds, control risks, and increase the requirements for property to ensure statutory activities: for funds engaged in mandatory pension insurance - from 100 million rubles. up to 120 million rubles. from January 1, 2014, 150 million rubles. from January 1, 2016 and 200 million rubles. from January 1, 2018, and for funds engaged only in non-state pension provision - from 50 million rubles. up to 60 million rubles, 80 million rubles and 100 million rubles. respectively. The draft law also states that management companies will not have to ensure the return of pension money; their task is to ensure “proper management” of these funds. Representatives of the funds believe that, therefore, all responsibility for the safety of funds falls on the NPF. “In order for the compulsory pension insurance system to become more reliable, it would be logical to increase the requirements not only for NPFs, but also for all its entities,” says Anton Shpilev, executive director of NPF KIT-Finance. The bill also contains one key relaxation for non-state pension funds: the Ministry of Finance proposes to allow funds “in the short term” to receive a negative financial result from investing savings. The order of the Federal Financial Markets Service, allowing pension funds to distribute losses from investing savings across the accounts of their clients, has been under approval by the Ministry of Labor since August (see Kommersant of August 9). The new bill of the Ministry of Finance strengthens the position of the Federal Financial Markets Service, proposing to legalize the “short” unprofitability of non-state pension funds. Maria Yakovleva, Alexandra Bayazitova

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 183/P dated 10/01/2012, page 10

The Ministry of Finance has corrected NPF