Pension Clients Down Slightly Compared To 2017

Prague, Aug 26 (CTK) – The number of clients of the Czech pension scheme’s third pillar was 4.46 million at the end of the first half of this year, which is 0.3 percent fewer compared to the end of 2017, according to data of the Finance Ministry.

 

The third pillar, providing state contributions, consists of transformed funds and supplementary pension savings.

 

The number of clients of transformed funds, which are now closed and do not accept any new clients, went down by 123,000 to 3.59 million.

 

A total of 869,000 people had supplementary pension savings, which replaced the previous private pension scheme in 2013, at the end of June, with the number growing by 111,000 compared to the end of 2017.

 

The state is not convincing people to use the supplementary pension savings product, Partners company analyst Martin Tomanek told CTK.

 

When people do have the product, they save small average monthly amounts so they cannot get the maximum state contribution, he added.

 

In H1, the volume of state contributions to private pension insurance and supplementary pension savings reached Kc3.5bn, with the average monthly aid growing by Kc7 to Kc133.

 

The volume of clients’ contributions was Kc17.7bn in the first half of this year, paying monthly Kc673 on average, Kc28 more than at the end of 2017.

 

Czechs could sign new private pension scheme contracts by November 30, 2012. As of January 2013, they can only sign contracts on supplementary pension savings, which differ from the previous schemes as their clients must choose an investment strategy.

 

Private pension schemes with state contributions were introduced in the Czech Republic in 1994. Of the original 44 pension funds, nine have remained on the marked.

 

No. of private pension scheme clients in third pillar funds:

 

Year

Clients in millions

2000

2.37

2001

2.53

2002

2.62

2003

2.74

2004

2.96

2005

3.28

2006

3.59

2007

3.94

2008

4.21

2009

4.39

2010

4.53

2011

4.57

2012

5.13

2013

4.96

2014

4.80

2015

4.64

2016

4.54

2017

4.47

H1 2018

4.46

 

Source: Finance Ministry