The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) recently highlighted the need to increase voluntary contributions to pensions during Primavara Investitionala, a pension-themed event.

"The increase of the pensioners-employees ratio can turn into a burden on everyone in the future,” Allianz-Triac Pensii Private CEO Julius Postolache, who also serves as vice president of the Association for Privately Managed Pensions in Romania (APAPR), said in an announcement. “As days go by, more and more pensioners depend on one employee or taxpayer to have their pension assured. The private pension system was (conceptualized) and created as the main solution to this problem."

According to the pension fund representatives at the event, increases in voluntary contributions and financial literacy will help mitigate the effect of a growing number of pensioners. The BVB noted that there are significant incentives for both individuals and businesses to increase their voluntary contributions in the form of tax breaks. Further, pension funds, which make up approximately 10 percent of the exchange’s trading volume, have garnered significant yields.

"The managers of the pension funds have generated added value to the future pensioners and have reported since their establishment yearly average yields of 7.18 percent for Tier III and 9.41 percent for Tier II, respectively, according to the APAPR data," BVB Chairman of the Board Lucian Anghel said.