Rosangella barbarán: “The AFPs have failed. I think the market should be opened”

What did it take to get to this point?

—Contributors from both the private and national systems seek to withdraw all their money because they no longer trust the public or private system.

—Is it the right time for the pension reform?

-Yeah. Unfortunately, the public (system), by not being individual and being supportive, generates a lot of cost for the State. In a few years it will possibly be more complicated because fewer and fewer young people want to go to the ONP. And, on the other hand, the AFPs have had excessive profits and the losses have been exclusively for the contributors and not for them. These differences have upset contributors.

—What are the pillars of the reform of the Economy Commission?

—We are looking for an integrated system that works or that in any case the ONP has individual accounts and that this is cumulative. It is not that there is a single source of income such as the discount for contributors, but additional ones that are being debated now, such as IGV points, that employers and the State also contribute and reduce the commissions that the AFPs charge and that are for performance.

—Would the AFP manage this new system?

I can strongly deny this. The AFPs have failed. They have not failed, but they have failed. I think the market should be opened. It is being evaluated that banks also become part of the administrators for a simple reason: if we talk about freedom of choice, many contributors can decide, for example, to have their individual account in a bank that offers an attractive interest rate, and sure the AFPs don’t want to. They have to enter more actors.

—How does it change compared to that of the Work Commission?

—I consider that the State mismanages money. I would not lean towards Congresswoman Bazán’s proposal that she practically wants to nationalize, because the fact that she manages it implies that the State will be in charge of the money. There are two paths: either the private one, not necessarily the AFPs, or that it be mixed and each contributor decides who manages their money; but yes or yes there is an individual account unlike now. A ONP with accumulated individual account and with other sources of income.

“What would happen to the current funds?”

—Whatever the decision of the contributors, their money will correspond to their individual accounts. This money, like the Recognition Bonus, is cashed at retirement. It is a progressive investment.

—The MEF wants to unify the National Pension System. What do you think?

—It worries me because the dynamics in the State are different in the military, mining and fishing regimes. We will evaluate the proposal, but I consider it a bit risky.

“Then they won’t include it either…”

We are going to have to analyze to make a decision.

-Whats Next? When would they have a concrete proposal?

—By April we will have decentralized work tables with different regimes. In May we would already have the opinion of total reform. The idea is that the MEF already has its diagnostic report and recommendations on that date.