Romanians show little interest for their own private pensions, says study

A significant share of Romanians believe that decisions about their own private pension fund (second pillar) should be taken by somebody else, according to the results of an online survey commissioned by ING Pensii.

Half of the respondents said that that someone else has the responsibility to make sure that they will have an income when they retire. Close to 40 percent said the main responsibility should be borne by the state, 11 percent mentioned the employer and 3 percent the family.

According to Raluca Tintoiu, general manager of ING Pensii, 86 percent of respondents said they are not constantly saving for pension through financial instruments, either because they can’t do it (62 percent) or because they have not planned to do it (23 percent).

In addition, one third of the respondents said they did not know they had a privately administered pension, although they owned it.

The survey, which had 1,000 respondents, showed that for most Romanians the second pillar is the only financial instrument through which they are saving for pensions.

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Representatives of ING Pensii cited data from a study by Expert Forum, an independent think-tank, which revealed that Romania’s population will stand at around 17.2 million in 2060 from 21.4 million in 2010, and that 54 percent will account for active population. Less than two thirds of the active population will work in 2060.

ING Pensii is the biggest administrator in the second pillar, with RON 6.5 billion in assets under management.

The second pillar was launched in May 2008 and had assets of RON 17.35 billion at the end of August.

Ovidiu Posirca