OFEs popular despite obstacles

Some 2.53 billion of Poles chose to remain with remain private pension funds (OFEs), the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) announced on Wednesday. Although the OFE option was not advertised and required signing a special document (whereas the ZUS option did not), the number of people remaining with the funds went beyond former predictions. "The number of people who declared their will to further save money in OFE went beyond our expectations. We estimate that the number, and the value of the new contribution will be close to our normal share in the market, that is 6-7%. Unfortunately we can't call it a huge success, but we are satisfied with the current result," said Robert Garnczarek, CEO of fund manager AXA PTE. There are currently 1.2 million members of AXA OFE.  The fund manages assets worth a total of PLN 9.3 billion.