Labor Ministry holds talks with pension funds over new regulations

The Labor Ministry has provided pensions funds (OFEs) representatives with five proposals, which would allow them to invest in derivatives. Under the new regulations, the share of derivatives in the portfolio of a fund would be limited to 5% or 10% of their assets. However, OFEs could only purchase these in order to help reduce risk and secure funds. The early reaction of sector representatives was generally positive. They underlined that derivatives would indeed reduce the risk connected with possible drops in prices on the stock exchange. "We are primarily interested in derivatives on indexes and also on stocks of individual companies' shares. I cannot see any danger in giving the OFEs the possibility to secure some of their assets on the inter-bank market either," said Marek Mikuc from Allianz PTE. Other pension funds managers stressed that the government should go further and free the limit set on foreign investments by OFEs. The proposals on derivatives will be included in amendments to the law regulating the operations of pension funds, which will be prepared in June. (Puls Biznesu, p. 7) M.K.