With over 8.04 million participants in Pillar II pensions, the value of assets exceeded 103.2 billion lei in the first quarter of this year, but 70% of these assets are owned by only 25% of participants, while 20 % of participants have less than 1,030 lei in their accounts, according to the data published on Monday by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF).
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How many Romanians participate in Pillar II. The average value of an account is 12,967 lei
The number of participants registered in the privately administered pension system (Pillar II) on March 31, 2023 was 8.04 million people, up from 7.96 million people at the end of the previous year.
The seven private pension fund managers ended up managing assets of over 103.22 billion lei at the end of March 2023, up by approximately 15.46% compared to the same date in 2022 and up by 7% compared to the month December of last year.
At the end of March 2023, the average asset value of a participant in the privately managed pension system was 12,967 lei, registering an increase of 12.39% compared to the same period of the previous year and an increase of 5.92% compared to the end of 2022 .
The average contribution is 249 lei/month: The smallest and largest account in Pillar II
The distribution of the value of the participants’ accounts shows a high concentration, with 70% of the assets held by only 25% of the participants. The largest account has a value of 1.78 million lei, and the smallest has a value of 1 lei. At the same time, 20% of the participants have assets below the value of 1,030 lei.
At the level of Pillar II, the average contribution of participants with transferred contributions in March 2023 was about 249 lei/participant, while on December 31, 2022 its value was 237 lei/participant.
In the first quarter of 2023, the contributions transferred to the privately administered pension system were in the amount of 3.17 billion lei, increasing by approximately 19% compared to the same period of the previous year.
The average monthly contribution varies considerably depending on the county, the highest values being recorded in the Municipality of Bucharest (336 lei/participant), Cluj (325 lei/participant), Timiș (296 lei/participant), Ilfov (288 lei/participant), and Sibiu (277 lei/participant).
The lowest average monthly contributions are registered in Harghita (199 lei/participant), Bistrita-Năsăud (202 lei/participant) and Vrancea (199 lei/participant).
Regarding the total monthly contributions, the sharp difference between the regions remains, with the Municipality of Bucharest registering the highest values (244 million lei), followed by Cluj (44 million lei) and Timiș (38 million lei). At the opposite pole is the south of the country – Teleorman, Caraș-Severin, Ialomița, Giurgiu and Mehedinți registering the lowest values (between 2.6 and 3.4 million lei).
What payments were made in Pillar II of pensions in the first three months
During the first quarter of 2023, net personal asset payments in the amount of approximately 158 million lei were made to 8,712 participants or beneficiaries.
Of the total amount of payments made, a percentage of 57% is related to the opening of the right to pension, 19% as a result of the participant’s death and 23% as a result of invalidity.
In the first quarter of 2023, 67% of the participants/beneficiaries preferred one-off payments over staggered ones as a way of paying their net personal assets.
As a result of the opening of the right to pension, one-off payments in the amount of 56.2 million lei and staggered payments in the amount of approximately 34.7 million lei were made.
Single payments in the amount of 21.8 million lei and staggered payments in the amount of 8.7 million lei were recorded to the beneficiaries of the net personal asset as a result of the participant’s death.
For disability, the amount of the personal net asset paid was approximately 28.5 million lei related to single payments and 8.3 million lei through staggered payments.
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