BCR Pensii: We're not ruling out new pension fund acquisitions

Managers of mandatory private pension funds (pillar II) should recover their expenses made to attract clients in eight to ten years, but the moment could be delayed by a further three years should authorities decide to reduce, for one year, contributions to the system from 2.5% to 0.5% from participants' gross salary, believes Simona Ditescu, CEO of BCR Pensii. "The mandatory private pension fund market should break even in eight to ten years. We estimate, though, that cutting contributions from 2.5% to 0.5% for a period of one year will push back this moment by as much as three years," Ditescu stated. At the same time, she says private pension managers cannot draw up any concrete plans given current uncertainties and that BCR Pensii is currently focusing on maintaining stability, even though it does not rule our new acquisitions on the market should opportunities arise. Last year, BCR doubled its market share to 6.2% by buying the mandatory pension funds managed by Omniasig, OTP and Prima Pensie.