Romanian pension funds draw new subscribers, total number exceeds 4m on the mandatory segment

The total number of Romanians who subscribed to a mandatory pension fund reached 4.03 million, exceeding the market estimates.

On January 17 ING Fond de Pensii reported 249,000 subscribers, Allianz-Tiriac – 205,000, Generali – 103,000 and Aviva – 68,000.

Romania has introduced starting May 1 a new pensions system, comprising three categories. Pillar I consists of traditional state-collected social security contributions, which will now be supplemented by obligatory privately-managed pension payments, Pillar II, and the optional private pension funds, known as Pillar III.

The campaign for mandatory private pensions started last year on December 17 and ended on January 17, 2008. After this period, those who did not subscribe will be automatically and aleatory distributed to a fund.