In recent days, the administrators of Pension funds (AFP) have once again been in the eye of the storm, due to complaints from users on social networks about the drop in the profitability of their funds, and the possibility of free access to funds has even been raised.
In this regard, the professor of the Universidad del Pacífico (UP), Pablo Lavado, and the former Minister of Economy, David Tuesta, agreed on the need for a reform of the pension system (SP) in the country.
The representative of the UP, through his Twitter account, stated that along with the changes to the SP, a “labour, tax and social protection” reform must be carried out.
“The system can definitely be improved. There are options”he added and indicated that it is also important to promote financial education.
For his part, Tuesta, who is also an advisor to the Association of AFPs (AAFP), assured this newspaper that it is necessary to aim at solving the informality problem What is in Peru?
“There are informal workers who never contributed to the system. Additionally, there is another problem, and that is that there are members who contributed very little.”, he commented and maintained that the modifications made to the system should aim at that.
He also recalled that expanding the horizon of affiliates is a way to help the State, since, otherwise, even more public resources would have to be disbursed in the pensions of all people and “there is no money to benefit everyone”.
Regarding the possibility of evaluating another way of charging the commission by the AFPs, for example by performance, the former minister indicated that “it can be evaluated”, but pointed out that the benefits and risks of this proposal must be analyzed. One of the “cons” is that investments are directed where there is less profitability.
In the same way, he assured that it is necessary to take into account that the AFPs have achieved that the members’ funds have an average annual return of 11%.
“Have the AFPs made you lose money? The answer is no. Today there is a photo, but the day you retire, you will have a multiple of what you contributed. For every sol that the affiliate put in, the AFP has put in S/3 and that can be seen in the size of the affiliate’s fund”, she argued.
For his part, Alberto Arispe, from Kallpa SAB, recalled that the liquid assets of the AFPs are listed on global financial markets, and stressed that “no one can predict” what will happen to those assets, that is, if they will rise or fall.
In that sense, he recommended focusing on the average annual return provided by these companies “and not if the fund goes up or down a lot in a year or months.”
Access to 4 ITU
On the other hand, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Roberto Sánchez, reported his position in favor of SPP affiliates having access to up to 4 UIT (S/18,400) of their individual accounts, as approved by the Plenary of Congress last May 4.
Data:
-The last reform to the Private Pension System was carried out during the government of Ollanta Humala.
-There are projects in Congress that propose that the financial system also participate in the administration of pensions.
-There are 2.3 million members who already have a zero balance in their individual accounts, according to information from the AAFP.
