The issue of transferring the funded part of future pension contributions to the best non-state pension funds has been of concern to Russian citizens since 2014, when there were changes in the Russian FIU. Since 2014, pension in Russia has been divided into two categories: funded and insurance contributions. And when the working part of the country retired, it became possible to change their "fate": abandon savings in favor of insurance or invest them, becoming a client of a non-state company.
How is a pension formed in Russia?
Citizens receiving a “white” wage (official employment with annual deductions to the tax authorities and the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation) are entitled to receive benefits from the state when they reach retirement age - financial indefinite support. In 2014, the country's pension system went through a reorganization, and 22% of insurance premiums paid by the landlord in the RF PF for each employee can be formed in the following ways:
- 16% go to the insurance part for social needs, 6% are the employee's accumulative contributions, which he will be able to receive (taking into account indexation, if he made the transition to non-state pension funds) at a time upon retirement or breaking them into monthly payments;
- only the insurance part: 22% of the 22% possible (implying a refusal to form an accumulative share (0%) by voluntary consent of a citizen or uncertainty when choosing an NPF - “silence”).
If in the case of the first option the future pensioner only has to decide on the NPF (which one to choose), then when he refuses to save, he automatically transfers the contributions kept by the employer to the state (he becomes a “silent person” - a client who has not concluded an agreement with a non-governmental fund and has not used his opportunity to increase pension amount).
Who has the right to transfer the funded part of the pension
Not all citizens of the Russian Federation can carry out the transition to NPFs, having retained 6% for investment according to the profitability of a non-state company,
- Those born before 1967 do not have the opportunity to change the size of the insurance part; they have access to private programs concluded as part of co-financing of pensions, which you can connect to at the PFR branch of the Russian Federation or at private companies;
- other age groups have the right to choose: to remain “silent” or take the future into their own hands, having studied the NPF profitability rating and chosen a trustworthy fund.
All citizens of the permissible age category (who were no more than 49 years old in 2016) could use the transition right until December 31, 2015. For those persons who for the first time since January 1, 2014 transferred contributions to the Pension Fund to the Pension Fund, the state extended the election term until the end of 2018. And if their age at the time of transition was less than 23 years, then the permission to go remains until the retirement age is reached.
How is the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation different from non-state firms?
Doubting the NPF (which one to choose in order to get the maximum income and confidence in receiving a pension), clients of insurance companies forget that, unlike non-state funds, the RF PF guarantees annual indexation of contributions taking into account inflation. Whatever the financial situation in the country, the insurance pension will be paid in full with accrued interest.
The NPF does not guarantee 100% that the income calculated upon signing the OPS agreement will remain at the same amount during the indexation period. Profitability ratios depend on the number of customers, the size of the financial portfolio, the total amount of pensions paid to fund participants and external economic factors: inflation, market competition, pension reforms (since 2015, the Central Bank of NPF takes special control). In the event of stable development, a private company provides a chance to increase the accumulation several times or to get a "bare" amount of contributions withheld (with negative profitability).
NPF-2016 rating on the principle of profitability
The higher the profitability of a non-governmental fund, the more attractive it looks in the eyes of the client. The best non-state pension funds (top 5) guaranteeing the highest percentage of investment for the analyzed period (taking into account average annual indicators):
- JSC "OPF named after Livanov" (12.9%).
- "European PF" (12.4%).
- Ural Financial House (11.4%).
- "Education and science" (11.1%).
- "Education" (11%).
The NPF profitability rating based on the accumulation principle looks different:
- CJSC Promagrofond (17.3%).
- Consent (12.7%)
- Magnet (12.2%).
- "European PF" (10.9%).
- Sberfond (10.2%).
Profitability ratings allow you to decide on the choice of NPFs, the cumulative coefficient of which will meet the expectations of the insured.
Which NPF is the most reliable?
When choosing a private pension company, an important role is played by the reliability of private pension funds, which is determined through the voluntary participation of the company in the ratings of independent agencies.
The most influential analytic agencies in the field of pension provision are recognized as Expert RA and National RA.
The list of non-state pension funds that are assigned an exceptionally high (A ++) level of reliability from Expert RA:
- "Diamond Autumn".
- Atomgarant.
- "Welfare".
- "EMANCY Welfare."
- "Big".
- "Vladimir".
- VTB PF.
- The gas fund.
- "European PF".
- "Kit Finance".
- "National".
- "Oil Guarantor".
- "Gas fund pension savings."
- "Promagrofond".
- SAFMAR.
- "RGS".
- Sberbank.
- JSC "Surgutneftegas".
The rating agency "National" has published its list of non-state pension funds that are financially strengthened (AAA), and are responsible for obligations to investors.
It included 9 companies, 6 of which were recognized by the two agencies as the most reliable:
- "Welfare".
- "European PF".
- "Kit Finance".
- "Oil Guarantor".
- "RGS".
- Sberbank.
In addition to those listed in the rating from Expert Ra, OJSC Telecom-Soyuz, the non-governmental fund Electric Power and OAO Lukoil-Garant are also among the 9 most stable pension savings investment companies.
Rating of the most “client-centric” private funds according to the results of 2015
Opinions of future pensioners who have drawn up an OPS agreement with a non-state company put pressure on potential clients of the fund. Negative reviews on the network that are left by NPF clients make investors think about leaving an unattractive fund that has received complaints from participants in an insurance contract.
Companies focused on observance of the terms of the PSA and NGOs deserve the trust of depositors and enjoy the status of “client-centricity”.
"Voice" of customers - Top 5 non-state funds of 2015:
- "European PF" (3.8 out of 5).
- The Future (3.2 out of 5).
- "Welfare" (2.9 out of 5).
- Kit Finance (2.6 out of 5).
- "Promagrofond".
Among the subsidiary banking companies, the leader in the quality of customer service in 2015 was the non-governmental Sberbank Fund, which accounts for more than 14% of the market and 243.3 billion rubles of pension savings (1st place).
Additional information that deserves attention when choosing a private pension fund
If, after analyzing all the ratings, there is no answer to the question “Which NPF is better? Which one to choose?”, It’s worth looking at the secondary factors that influence the opinion about the organization.
Firstly, the age of a private company. Although newcomers in 88% of cases offer more attractive conditions (profitability of 10% and the possibility of an agent moving home), experience in the insurance business plays a role. Among the funds leading in the lists of reliability and profitability, there are no “newcomers” who have been working for less than 3 years. This is not “bullying”, but healthy competition and a policy of “retention” (maintaining customer flow at the level of the previous period with a high satisfaction index), rather than attracting new people at any cost (deception, understatement).
Secondly, the convenience of online services. The "personal account" of the participant in the OPS contract should have a practical interface (large icons, a Russian-language menu that is understandable to a novice user) and open up maximum access to information (features of the contract, history of operations with low-frequency loans). A comfortable remote service is that the client does not need to visit the office.
Thirdly, the number of customers. When 500 thousand citizens and more wanted to use the services of a private person, this indicates not only the successful work of insurance agents, but also trust in the fund.
The choice has been made: how to transfer pension savings to NPFs?
If the question of the activities of NPFs (which one to choose for transferring low-income pensions) has already been resolved, then the workers have another problem: how to transfer the pension to a non-state fund?
In order to conclude an OPS agreement with an NPF, you must contact the office of a non-governmental organization at the place of registration. From the documents you need only a passport and SNILS with you. After completing the documentation, the client is given a copy of the contract confirming the desire to transfer pension savings from the RF PF to NPFs.
But for the final transfer of NPPs to another fund, confirmation is required in the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. There are several ways to do this:
- For a personal visit to the PF of Russia, filling out an application form with the consent to transfer.
- Confirming by phone specified in the OPS agreement (or by “feedback” from a specialist of the contact center of the NPF).
- By sending consent by e-mail or as an SMS.
In 2016, 25% of non-governmental funds (for example, NPF Sberbank) offer to confirm their consent to transfer the NPP "without leaving the office": when registering for an OPS, the client receives an SMS message with a code within 2-5 minutes that must be reported to the manager. The employee enters the code into the program - and the application is automatically sent to the FIU. Repeated confirmation and a personal visit to the Pension Fund of Russia is not required.
The nuances of the transition to NPF
You can transfer pension savings to any fund that offers services for concluding social insurance and social insurance contracts and NGOs. The transition process takes 1 year: after signing the contract, accumulations are transferred to NPFs one year after the paperwork. All insurance contributions withheld by the employer and interest accrued by the previous company are transferred (provided that 5 years have passed since the conclusion of the previous contract). If the client terminates the contract ahead of schedule (in less than 5 years), he loses dividends, receiving only insurance premiums from the employer (their amount cannot be reduced, since they are paid without fail by all officially working citizens by deducting amounts from wages).
Savings can be transferred between non-governmental funds and the RF PF no more than once a year.
NPF license - what is it?
Since 2015, the Central Bank began to “clean up” non-state funds, the number of which increased dozens of companies every year. Organizations that do not fulfill obligations to investors (whose pension savings did not allow payments to all customers) and violate the reporting deadlines, were deprived of the right (unlimited NPF license) to engage in insurance activities in the financial market of the Russian Federation.
At the end of the year, 89 funds received a license, a list of which is available on the official website of the Central Bank of Russia.
A license was taken from NPFs: what should clients do?
In case of cancellation of the license from the fund, the client is given the opportunity to transfer his savings to another private company. If you refuse to choose another NPF, pension accumulations will by default go to the Pension Fund of Russia, while retaining 6% of NPP.
In accordance with the law No. 422-, which regulates the rights of insured persons when concluding an OPS in the Russian Federation, following the results of 2015, 32 non-state pension funds have entered into the system for guaranteeing NPPs. This means that the pension savings of citizens indexed by the FIU or NPF (protected by the Deposit Insurance Agency) are guaranteed by the state.
NPP moratorium 2014-2016: when to wait for indexation?
In 2016, the Government confirmed the extension of the moratorium on investment of NPPs. The reason is the crisis, forcing the state to save on savings of citizens.
The ban on the formation of the required 6% for investment, according to financial analysts, will be extended to 2017 - until the Russian market and economy stabilizes.