Romanian pension fund managers object to planned ban on PE investments

The decision envisaged by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) to ban mandatory private pension funds (Pillar 2) from investments in private equity funds "does not serve the interest of the Romanian economy," argue representatives of seven private associations of assets management, investors and contributors to pension funds.

ASF announced it considers such a ban in the context of the frauds revealed at pension fund manager BRD Pensii.

At the same time, the pension fund managers claim that they have already entered long-term commitments with some pension funds in compliance with the existing legislation that allows for a 10% exposure to such investments.

"The decision was taken without consulting the main actors in the field in order to understand better both the reasons and the consequences of such a ban. There is still no history of investments that would allow a proper assessment. The ban comes in the context of long-term commitments already signed by some pension funds, in compliance with current legislation," the associations argue in the statement, Economedia.ro reported.

They recall that this is the second time a private pension fund supervisory authority has banned investments in private equity funds once they were initially allowed.

Furthermore, "the ban contradicts the responsibilities assumed by Romania under the Relaunch and Resilience national Plan PNRR, which provide for higher diversification of the portfolios of the mandatory private pension funds, and it also contradicts the OECD recommendations, as a consultant, for the development of the Romanian capital market."

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