ROMANIA - The Private Pension Supervision Commission (CSSPP) has authorised five second pillar pension funds for sale in Romania.

The Romanian subsidiaries of Aviva, Allianz, ING, Generali and Aegon have been given the go-ahead to sell their funds from 17 September.

Pension management companies wanting to offer second pillar pension funds have to set up a separate entity to do so. This subsidiary then has to gain CSSPP approval for itself and for the fund it wants to offer.

The seven other pension management companies (see list below) that have been authorised to operate in the second pillar market are awaiting CSSPP authorisation for their funds. The supervisor is still assessing the details of the funds that the companies had previously filed.

Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) was the latest manager to be granted a license to operate in the mandatory second pillar market.

The bank, which was privatised in 2005 with a majority stake going to the Austrian Erste Bank, has also filed the prospectus of a fund. It is one of those awaiting CSSPP approval.

Meanwhile, the five companies managing the funds that have been approved have one last hurdle to cross -- getting their pension sales staff licensed by the CSSPP.

BT Aegon, a joint venture formed earlier this year by Banca Transilvania and Dutch insurance group Aegon, said it was now ready to sell its pension fund.

"We are now focusing our efforts on establishing and expanding our sales network through Banca Transilvania, BT Asigurari and pension brokers, setting up new IT systems and strengthening back-office support," said BT Aegon chief executive Silvia Sirb.

From 17 September all Romanian employees under the age of 35 must choose a pension fund within five months in which to. Those aged between 35 and 45 can do so voluntarily.

Employees will contribute 2% of their gross salary to a private pension fund. The contribution will rise 0.5 percentage points each year over the next eight years to reach 6% by 2016.

However, the contribution to the mandatory pillar will mean no extra cost for employees as the money will be taken from the 9.5% which are already deducted from employees' gross salaries to fund Romania's existing state pension system.


Five funds authorised funds (managing company given in brackets):

- Pensia Viva (Aviva Pensii)
- AZT Viitorul Tau (Allianz-Tiriac Pensii Private)
- ING (ING Pensii)
- Aripi (Generali Pensii)
-Vital (BT Aegon)

Other managers having been granted licenses to operate in the mandatory second pillar:

- OTP fond de pensii, a subsidiary of Hungary's OTP bank
- BRD fond de pensii, part of to the Société Générale group
- Omniasig pensii, part of the Vienna Insurance Group
- Interamerican, part of the Eureko group
- Prima pensie, a subsidiary of Slovenian pension provider Prva
- AIG fond de pensii, a unit of AIG Life.

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