TIRANA, Nov. 17 – For the first time since their establishment in 2012, women have overtaken men in the emerging private pension funds. Data published by the country’s Financial Supervisory Authority shows women’s membership in the three pension funds rose to 5,386 at the end of Sept. 2015, up 57 percent compared to the end of 2014. Meanwhile, men’s membership rose by only 12.5 percent to 5,359 over the same period.
The net asset value in the emerging private pension market at the end of the third quarter of 2015 rose to around 837 million lek (€6 mln), registering a considerable 33 percent increase compared to the end of 2014.
Total membership in the three operating pension funds, Sigal, Raiffeisen and Sicred Pensions rose by 32 percent to 11,227 compared to the end of 2014.
The emerging private pension market registered a sharp 45 percent in 2014, with its net asset value growing to €4.4 mln.
Raiffeisen Invest, which is a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank, the country’s biggest commercial bank, was the only operator to post profits of 254 million lek (€1.8 million) in 2014.
Meanwhile, Sigal and Sicred, two Albanian-Austrian and Turkish-Albanian joint ventures, posted losses at the end of 2014.
The voluntary private pension market holds less than 0.1 percent of financial system assets and aims at supplementing pensions offered under the government’s obligatory scheme.
A recent survey with 500 enterprises employing more than 20 workers has shown two-thirds of employers and half of employees in Albania are not aware of the benefits of the private pension funds in Albania. The survey unveiled the development of the private pension market in Albania has also been affected by the tax burden until 2014. Starting this year, contributions in the emerging private pension market have been stripped of the personal income tax, benefiting thousands of members of the private pension funds.
Women in Albania are less likely to receive a pension in old age, making them significantly more likely to suffer poverty, according to a United Nations report on progress of the world’s women for 2015-2016. The report shows only 61 percent of women in Albania above the statutory pensionable age of 60 receive an old age pension, compared to 100 percent of men, leaving 39 percent of women vulnerable to poverty.
Under the new pension reform, starting January 2015, the retirement age for women, currently at 60, will gradually increase by two months per year to reach 63 years old by 2032. The increase in retirement age for men, currently at 65, will continue only after 2032, to reach 67. The retirement age for both men and women is expected to increase to 67 years old by 2056.
