ING Viata attracts over 10,000 voluntary pension clients

The number of customers attracted by the two voluntary pension funds managed by ING Asigurari de Viata stood at 10,991, according to the company.
ING Clasic fund had 7,480 customers, while ING Optim fund attracted 3,511 customers.
ING ranks second on the fledgling market, behind Allianz-Tiriac.
In mid-September, Allianz-Tiriac exceeded the 10,000-customer mark, with its two funds AZT Moderato and AZT Vivace. There are another three voluntary pension managers on the market: Aviva (Pensia mea fund), BCR Asigurari de Viata (BCR Expert fund) and OTP Garancia (OTP Strateg fund).
Optional pension sales started in May-June, and as a result the market is just beginning to take shape.
So far, around 22,500 individuals have joined an voluntary pension fund (with at least one monthly contribution already made).
However, the total number of customers is higher (around 30,000), because many customers with signed contracts have yet to make their first payments.
On November 9, the 7 voluntary pension funds exceeded the one million euro mark in terms of net assets under management, whilst the two funds managed by ING held a 34% market share. Allianz-Tiriac funds held 53% of these net assets, while the other three funds shared the remaining 13%.
By law, people with salaried incomes, as well as individuals working in a liberal profession and with independent activities, can join an voluntary pension fund.
Monthly contributions are capped at 15% of gross registered incomes.
In order to get an voluntary pension and thus add to his or her income at retirement age, any eligible person must make at least 90 monthly contributions to a fund, not necessarily consecutive ones (namely a minimum period of 7 and a half years).
Payments into the pensions account only starts after the age of 60, but customers can decide to extend the period of contributions after this age.
The voluntary pension market has been overshadowed lately by the campaign for the sale of mandatory private pensions (pillar II), with managers focussing on this campaign.
Halfway through the initial sales campaign (i.e. the first two months), ING held a dominant position among the 18 fund managers.
According to the data collected from all management firms and published by ZF, ING attracted around 766,000 customers.