Recommendations of the Russian Pension Fund in terms of private individuals investing their pension savings

LEGAL DIGEST \ 12.01.2018

The activity of private pension funds striving to attract as many clients as they can traditionally increases at the beginning of the year.

In this regard, the Russian Pension Fund has once again issued a reminder that, if you have decided to transfer your pension savings to a private pension fund, you should exercise maximum care in selecting it. When choosing a private pension fund, you should follow the recommendations below:

• check whether the private pension fund is included in the Register of private pension funds that are members of the system guaranteeing insured persons’ rights;
• read the information about the fund on its official website, as well as feedback from its clients;
• check the information relating to the fund’s income; and
• consult with an employee of the fund with regard to all questions that may interest you.

The following are important:

• never tell anyone your insurance number of your individual ledger account (abbreviated in Russian as SNILS), unless you are confident that you are telling a representative of a state authority or your employer; nor should you indicate your SNILS further to a request on various websites;
• if you change your pension fund more often than once in five years, the savings will be transferred without all or part of the return on the investment.

At present, there are three methods to apply for the transfer of pension savings to a different management company or a different pension fund:

• by using the customer service of the Pension Fund of Russia or a Multipurpose Centre for State and Municipal Services: an application may be filed personally or through your legal representative;
• via the Internet: on the portal of state services or on the website of the Pension Fund of Russia. In both cases, the application should be signed by an enhanced encrypted and certified digital signature;
• by post: in this case a notary should verify the identity of the citizen and the authenticity of his or her signature.

If a Russian citizen has never applied for the transfer of pension savings to a private pension fund, his or her savings will be formed through the Pension Fund of Russia and will be invested by the state-owned management company Vnesheconombank.

Acsour recommends that you exercise great care in managing your personal finances.