Pension Monitoring Center and Habertürk TV organized a panel at Dudullu OSB DES Trade Center Conference Room on 26 June 2018 within the scope of the project “We meet for your retirement, Turkey is getting BES’ed.”

Erol Öztürkoğlu, General Manager of Fiba Emeklilik gave a speech during the panel where Individual Pension System and auto-enrollment were discussed from all aspects; and gave the audience information on the chronological progress of the system. Stating that more than 60 thousand institutions including public ones were included in the system in one and half years since the initiation of auto-enrollment, Öztürkoğlu said number of participants in the entire pension system reached 11 million.

Öztürkoğlu gave the following information about the new term that is also called the 5th phase: “We are expanding to the general public as of June. 200 thousand businesses and nearly 4.5 million employees will join the system within the next month. Business owners need to start negotiating with pension companies starting from 1 July. As pension companies, we have made the process much easier thanks to technological solutions. Contracts are issued immediately using technological systems. In order to avoid financial penalties, employers need to transfer minimum 3 percent of employees’ income taken as basis to premium to the contracted pension companies. Otherwise, according to the legislation, penalties will be imposed. Therefore, business/employers need to take this matter seriously.”

Businesses with 5 to 10 employees will join the system as of 1 January

Saying that the following phase of auto-enrollment will be initiated as of 1 January 2019 to encompass business with 5 to 10 employees, Öztürkoğlu added: “Turkey implements one of the most generous pension systems in the world. Considering even only the state subsidy funds, you seriously should decide to stay in the system. Turkey is a rapidly aging country; therefore, if we age in poverty, we end up in a negative picture in terms of both our individual positions and the position of our state. That is why; employees should use such an advantageous system to save money.  It is highly critical for their future.”

‘Fund size of 84 billion TL may grow by 5 to 10 times’

Mustafa Akmaz, General Manager of Pension Monitoring Center (EGM), summarized the common mission of the structure shared by 18 pension companies and the Undersecretariat of Treasury in following words: “Ensuring that the pension market operates safely and efficiently, conducting supervision and auditory tasks commissioned by the Udnersecretariat of Treasury. In short, we collect all manner of data that is stored in the system. We analyze and report it; conduct the necessary processes for the state-subsidy system, and monitor compliance with the rules imposed by the legislative authorities.”