May 27, 2010

The meeting of the IET Scientific Council dedicated to the current situation and the prospects of development of the funded component of the pension system of the Russian Federation was held.

 

The IET Scientific Council was attended by representatives of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation, the World Bank, a number of non-government pension funds and asset managers, the Center for Strategic Development, the Institute of the National Model of Economy and other.


Participants in the meeting of the IET Scientific Council were presented with the outputs of the analysis and options of optimization of the funded component and discussed problems which arose in formation of that component, as well as mechanisms which ensure a sufficient amount of pensions provided by such a component.  

Participants discussed the following issues:

  • optimization of the investment strategy of the pension system which would simultaneously ensure both a sufficient amount of pensions and the minimum return on pension assets;
  • such strategies of allocation of assets and the lifecycle of funds as would better suit life stages of the pension system participants;
  • different options of the institutional structure of the funded component and the role of automatic (“by default”) investment of pension assets;
  • role of supervision and corporate governance in monitoring the efficiency of the system with allowance for risk;
  • options of the structure of the stage of payments (after a person retires) where invested pension assets are started to be used: costs and advantages related to utilization of annuities and other payment mechanisms. 

Reports were delivered by the following speakers:

  • Heinz Rudolf, Senior Financial Sector Expert of the Global Capital Markets Development Department of the World Bank;
  • John Pollner, Financial Markets Leading Expert of the Private Sector and Financial Sector Development Department of the World Bank;
  • V.S. Nazarov, Head of the IET Laboratory of Budgetary Federalism. 

    Also, A.K. Soloviev, Head of the Department of Current Calculations and Strategic Planning of the Pension Fund of Russia took part in the discussion.