JSC Future Future Fund is one of the largest financial institutions, which provides citizens of Russia with the opportunity to increase their pension contributions as a result of the conclusion of social insurance contracts. The company began its activities in the market more than 18 years ago. Now it is a merger of large NPFs - “Well-being” and “Stalfond”.
About the Fund
Since the company is not a newcomer to the pension services market, it can already boast of success in its business. At the beginning of 2016, more than 3.2 million people became clients of the combined fund from the merger of two significant structures in the field of pension insurance . Together, the pension giant JSC NPF Future owns more than 12% of the market.
Initially, the company had a direct relationship with Russian Railways and was their corporate partner. Subsequently, the expansion of client flow and the loss of the status of highly specialized private pension funds allowed agents to differentiate the insured and raise billions of rubles for retirement benefits. Now the cash "airbag" in NPF Blagosostoyanie and NPF Stalfond, which are a single fund for the Future, is 210 billion rubles.
Openness and transparency of the fund are the key to the confidence of future customers
Investors are willing to conclude OPS agreements. In addition, the activities of the company are described on the official website. It also indicates what the NPF Future address is. Large offices are available in every millionaire city. The main one is located in Moscow, on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, 2. The openness policy allows the network to calculate the size of the future pension and find out what will be the income after the conclusion of the contract. The official website, in addition to information about the founders, pension programs, reveals the organization’s main desire - indexation of savings.
NPF Future: rating from the influential agency Expert RA
It is impossible to imagine the activities of a single large and small non-governmental fund, which would not fall under the influence and evaluation of the Expert rating agency. This company is one of the leaders and the most demanding appraisers, which is now known to many clients who are not directly related to pension insurance. According to the results of 2015, the NPF “Future” rating still could not overcome the treasured border of “highest reliability”. He stopped at the “A +” stage (very reliable).
However, the opinions of experts of all analyzing companies are unanimous regarding the fact that the fund has not reached the upper limit of reliability, since officially it is still considered very young. Despite the fact that NPF Future has already earned reviews on the network, it is still a fund that was formed as a result of the merger of two other NPFs. Therefore, it is too early to judge how the legal entity will cope with the reorganization, and with customers, and with the internal situation in the team.
Nevertheless, to earn such an honorable rating at the early stages of its development is in itself a good result, which more than 67% of Russian private pension funds cannot achieve throughout their activities. Either they do not fully meet their obligations to the insured, or they do not conduct a completely transparent policy of attracting customers and conducting their pension business.
Rankings of other agencies
However, it will not be possible to analyze the activities of the fund “in all its glory”, as Expert RA is the only company with which the NPF had a desire to engage in the examination of its own business. Other agencies were not invited as analysts. For a young company that has not yet fully matured and realized its place in the insurance business, this is excusable. But for such a giant as NPF Future, such a nuance is not the best moment, since it makes it impossible for potential insured persons to evaluate their work in attracting customers and to study the financial condition.
People who want to transfer their retirement savings are interested in where NPF Future has offices, what is their mode of operation. For example, in Yekaterinburg, the branch operates at the address - ul. Strelochnikov, d. 41; in Kazan - st. Pushkin, d. 12 (207 additional office). A branch in Saratov is located on the street. Vavilova, d. 28A, 34th office.
“Personal account” of the fund - what and how?
It’s hard to imagine life without the Internet right now. And non-state companies are well aware of the desire of customers to access all their accounts at any time convenient for them, including at home. It is no secret that 75% of NPFs in Russia offer their insured persons access to personal account data and pension statements, which fully disclose information about the status of the contract (active, suspended, terminated, not concluded), all accumulations, in particular, which the amount of funds was transferred directly from the employer, and which was indexed by a private company, how many percent the client lost when changing the management company and so on.
At NPF Future, the Personal Account on the website also allows fund clients, without visiting the company’s branches, to examine the status of their account, make adjustments in case of erroneous enrollment (by handling a claim), send a letter about a change in the tariff plan (for an individual pension rate that allows such a function), as well as just follow all the movements of funds in a comfortable environment.
Access to the “My Account” is opened both when you visit a company branch (personal visit to managers and agents), and when you conclude an OPS agreement or your own registration of a client from the official website of NPF “Future” organization, whose address is easy to find by searching.
Is it profitable to transfer NPPs to NPF Future?
3.2 million clients who have already entrusted their retirement savings, of course, did not doubt their choice. Otherwise, they would hardly have translated them into the "Future." However, many of the “silent people” (78%) cannot decide where to send their funded part to receive a worthy “increase” in their pension. They cannot make a final decision about the choice of fund, based only on the principle of reliability.
Of course, it is nice to feel that pension savings are in good hands. Nevertheless, the main reason why citizens conclude OPS contracts lies in profitability. Everyone wants to get an “increase” in retirement. But not many people decide to take this step due to low awareness in the field of pension insurance and the fear of making a mistake.
In 2015, NPF Future profitability left much to be desired. But this is only due to its merger and reorganization. According to some financial sources, it was generally negative (-6.8%). And this means that the accumulation of citizens remained at the same level as in the previous period (2014). However, one should not panic and strive to choose another company as soon as possible: 18 years of successful operation in the OPS sphere speak of stability. And the negative profitability, taking into account the moratorium on the formation of NPPs, which is still in effect, still will not take away from customers those funds that have already been transferred from the employer and are “fireproof”.
The finances of non-state pension funds, which, when merged, created the largest unit in the field of OPS contracts, controlling more than 12% of the pension services market with a 210 billion share of contributions in rubles, allow the organization to pay off to all depositors, regardless of what the company's profitability will be (negative / positive), what is the situation on the financial market of the country as a whole (crisis, sanctions, high competition, monopoly).
It is worth noting that the place of deployment of one of the largest offices of NPF Future is Yekaterinburg. In it, the staff explains to all customers what is needed and can be done in case of an incomprehensible or emergency situation, what is the financial atmosphere in the company itself and why employees have long chosen this company of their own free will. But in order to get an answer, clients will have to be prepared to deal with bureaucracy and lack of enthusiasm (as opposed to filling out OPS contracts that benefit both agents and companies).
How not to fall into the traps of false agents? History No. 1
Unfortunately, more and more information has begun to appear on the Internet about the fact that insurance agents fraudulently enter into OPS agreements, literally forcing customers to forcefully join the funds that they offer. And these cases are not isolated. Just go to a website or blog where deceived citizens bitterly and perplexedly tell everyone about how they fell for the tricks and promises of scammers. And what’s the most annoying - these "employees", alas, in reality, are really insurance agents who simply cannot or do not want to earn a premium by concluding an OPS agreement honestly.
The same story with the NPF “Future” - the reviews of disappointed people who were promised the mountains, or, conversely, took advantage of their position and “secretly” slipped in to sign the agreement, now they are not surprising anyone.
Employment without employment: history No. 2
How to find a job when a country is in crisis? Of course, first of all, an announcement in the press comes to mind. Advertising in newspapers and the Internet allowed the employees of NPF Future to fill up new comments about their “dirty” work. The tactics are as follows: the client wants to get a job on an ad, which usually indicates attractive working conditions. Namely: a high salary, friendly staff, office work and a social package. Of course, there will be a lot of people who want to get such a prestigious place. The company simply won’t be able to physically arrange everything, but to completely sign an OPS agreement under the guise of a questionnaire or a form of fire safety (or any other legend that has nothing to do with supposedly employment).
This tactic is almost a win-win. In need of funds, unfortunate job seekers will sign almost everything that they “palm off” them. And only at home, when excitement and excitement subside a bit, in the end they will understand what they did. But it will be too late. It is useless to rely on the fact that after signing all the documents the client is still going to offer a workplace: it did not exist initially. All this was just a cunning trick of the management, a PR move that allowed to attract millions of profits, but significantly reduce customer satisfaction with the results of the Future company and ways of doing business.
What should clients do in case of fraud?
Alas, if the insured person, without realizing the consequences of his actions, nevertheless signed an OPS agreement with his own hand, it is practically impossible to prove that he was concluded in a fraudulent manner. The company will always find a "excuse". And as a result of the investigation, even a potential vacancy will be offered, which supposedly was waiting for its applicant. And the deceived people will have no choice but to reconcile with their choice or try to transfer their NPP in a year to another company, which will act more transparently and respectfully with its customers.
However, there is still hope that pension savings remained in the previous place. If SMS-informing did not inform about it or a confirmation letter from the Pension Fund has not yet been received. In this case, the contract may not be considered executed to the end. And the client will continue to be in the company that he had before meeting with insurance agents of the Future Fund.
You can check this in the "Personal Account" (if the client has one) or with a direct visit to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. Thus, NPF “Future” reviews about its activities, most of which (8/10) are extremely negative, deserved its illegal policy. She left no chance for the company to develop and gain new customers based on the attractiveness of its insurance products.
NPF or PFR? Pros and cons
One of the most popular requests regarding finance and profitability, in addition to the ruble and other currencies, is related to the transfer of NPPs to NPFs. Employees of the Pension Fund vying to argue that in the future, APFs will not pay a penny to their customers. And employees of private companies, on the contrary, recall that 6% of savings in the event of “silence” will remain in the FIU. They will be allocated by the state to payments to pensioners of the present.
Non-state pension funds, the opinions of customers who are disappointed and enjoy their choice (who have already managed to transfer their NPPs) have different. Some insured persons are extremely pleased that they themselves can manage their funds. Others, on the contrary, did not fully understand what they did with their funded part. Still others were forced to transfer by their employers, who concluded a corporate agreement and had already managed to get their profit from the company, which now opened up access to a large number of new customers.
However, it is extremely difficult to influence the opinion of an individual. Especially with regard to the so-called "silent people" who themselves do not fully know which fund they should choose and whether or not to transfer their pension savings somewhere. The state is interested in not transferring funds to NPFs. Therefore, for the third year in a row, it has been extending the moratorium on indexation under OPS-contracts. Of course, this situation was significantly affected by the economic crisis, but the population was still in the red. Those who have already transferred NPPs to NPFs do not have to worry about the choice. If the company is insured, payments will be refunded, as in the case of bank deposit insurance . The largest non-state pension funds (including Future) have entered into the insurance system, which is additional protection for customers and increases their loyalty to the company.
Non-state pension funds and the crisis: when is the license revoked?
In the era of the crisis, many companies could not endure the financial flow and checks that fell on them. Many of them went bankrupt, others reorganized into smaller firms, and others decided to leave the market voluntarily. As for NPFs, the worst thing for them is the loss of a license from the Central Bank. This means a ban on activities in the financial services market. And if the company fell under license revocation, then investors will have to look for another management company. Or they must come to terms with the fact that contributions will be transferred to the Pension Fund of Russia by default . At the same time, the share of deductions paid by the employer will remain unchanged. But the loss of interest, indexing contributions, is not excluded.