Sales agents pay their clients to subscribe, as they know that, for each signature they have secured, they will receive significant commissions. Payments can amount to one million old lei (almost €30), while the fee cashed in by sales agents is 20-30 percent higher. “It is no secret that sales agents provide collateral advantages to their clients, so I expect there will be several multiple signatures,” according to the General Manager of Allianz-Tiriac Pensii Private, Crinu Adanut. According to the legislation, an employee can only subscribe to one mandatory pension fund and, if discovered he had several signatures, the subscription is to be cancelled.
Adanut told Business Standard that several sales agents took loans to pay as many clients as possible for their subscriptions in the four months of the campaign. “They are waiting to later cash in the commissions, which are higher... Basically, they are expecting a profit worth 20-30 percent per month. I was shocked by a specific case of this type,” he said.
“It is more than certain that all agents do this. The Commission [for Supervising Private Pensions System, (CSSPP)] does not want to change the rules for subscriptions, in spite of being aware of these practices,” according to the General Manager of ING Fond de Pensii, Radu Vasilescu.
Proceedings
The National House for Pensions and Social Security (CNPAS) receives every two weeks the subscription papers signed by clients with the companies administrating the mandatory pension funds. At the end of the campaign, those who had multiple signatures are to be distributed randomly to the mandatory pension funds.
