ZUS's poor public perception has Poles flocking to some private pension funds
An on-the-ground pension saleswoman with the Warta-Citibank pension fund said the discovery that ZUS was going to have to delay handing over the pension contributions they collected from individuals and companies to the private funds "was a total disaster. It calls into question the solidity of the pension reform."
But, that collapse in credibility for ZUS was a bonanza for the privately managed pension funds.
"This was a catalyst for people to take their money privately rather than rely on ZUS to manage it in the state retirement fund," the saleswoman said.
Speaking on background, she said this was the reason people gave her, repeatedly, when they signed up for the Warta-Citibank "Dom" fund after the mid-summer disclosure of the ZUS's lapse in transfer of pension contributions to the designated private funds.
Krzysztof Bledowski, chief strategist for Wood & Co., said he had no "hard evidence" of such a cause and effect. "But it appears logical that when an institution is reported to be in trouble, fewer people will entrust it with money to be repaid later."
In addition, Bledowski said: "There's been a trend toward more people signing up for the new system than estimated earlier. This predates the ZUS trouble. I think the government underestimated the appetite of Poles for a long-term investment vehicle, the same as happened in Hungary last year."
But Harald Ruckle, pension fund strategist at the Warta-Citibank "Dom" fund, was more cautious. "We have not seen a jump that could be correlated with ZUS headlines ... and neither do our estimates of competitors' sales indicate that."
On the other hand, Ruckle said, "We have not seen a slowdown in sales, so maybe without the ZUS headlines there would have been a slowdown. But the 'ifs' are not strong enough proof, for me, personally, to state that ZUS's lack of payment pushes Poles toward the private pension funds."
• • •
Moving on: Lawyer Ronald Dwight has left his position at law firm Cameron McKenna, where he was an "of counsel" adviser on pension funds. Dwight now is at the office of lawyer Leszek Zgutka.
Dwight is credited by some as being the key person to link up the Catholic Church Episcopate with the Atlanta-based pension fund giant Invesco. That is turning out to be a harder sell than the Atlanta folks had originally envisioned, perhaps partly because they got a very late start and perhaps because there is something of a backlash against the church's money-making and political ventures by many rank-and-file Poles – including many who are loyal Catholics.
• • •
Two marketing-PR specialists have teamed up to offer a local branch of the British-based Chartered Institute of Marketing, which offers professional qualifications in sales and marketing. They are Kirsten Williamson and Ewa Krolikowska. Krolikowska does marketing for PricewaterhouseCoopers audit practice and already has a diploma from the institute.
"We didn't do too much marketing of our first meeting, but were amazed at how many people came along – 18 people, mainly Poles, and the interest has grown," Williamson said. At the second meeting in mid-September, the speaker was Edward Mier-Jedrzejowicz, who launched the mobile telephone industry here with Centertel, and then went to a Canadian-operated investment fund and now is launching Best Western hotels in Poland.
• • •
The Polish Journalists Association's Press Freedom Monitoring Center is drawing some big names itself for its international seminar on investigative journalism Oct. 22-23. These include Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, half of the Watergate investigative team that helped turn up evidence that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. (Woodward's cohort on the Watergate team was Carl Bernstein, whose most recent book was a bio of Pope John Paul II.)
The center's director, Andrzej Goszczynski, expects about 65 participants for the "reality and legalities" investigative reporting seminar. Other journalists and legal experts expected to attend include Martina Hildebrandt of Der Spiegel, Jean Quatremer of Liberation, German reporter Gunter Wallraff, Jane Kirtley of the U.S.-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Ivon L'Estrange Wallace of Argentina's Asociacion para la Defensa del Periodismo Independiente.
But, that collapse in credibility for ZUS was a bonanza for the privately managed pension funds.
"This was a catalyst for people to take their money privately rather than rely on ZUS to manage it in the state retirement fund," the saleswoman said.
Speaking on background, she said this was the reason people gave her, repeatedly, when they signed up for the Warta-Citibank "Dom" fund after the mid-summer disclosure of the ZUS's lapse in transfer of pension contributions to the designated private funds.
Krzysztof Bledowski, chief strategist for Wood & Co., said he had no "hard evidence" of such a cause and effect. "But it appears logical that when an institution is reported to be in trouble, fewer people will entrust it with money to be repaid later."
In addition, Bledowski said: "There's been a trend toward more people signing up for the new system than estimated earlier. This predates the ZUS trouble. I think the government underestimated the appetite of Poles for a long-term investment vehicle, the same as happened in Hungary last year."
But Harald Ruckle, pension fund strategist at the Warta-Citibank "Dom" fund, was more cautious. "We have not seen a jump that could be correlated with ZUS headlines ... and neither do our estimates of competitors' sales indicate that."
On the other hand, Ruckle said, "We have not seen a slowdown in sales, so maybe without the ZUS headlines there would have been a slowdown. But the 'ifs' are not strong enough proof, for me, personally, to state that ZUS's lack of payment pushes Poles toward the private pension funds."
• • •
Moving on: Lawyer Ronald Dwight has left his position at law firm Cameron McKenna, where he was an "of counsel" adviser on pension funds. Dwight now is at the office of lawyer Leszek Zgutka.
Dwight is credited by some as being the key person to link up the Catholic Church Episcopate with the Atlanta-based pension fund giant Invesco. That is turning out to be a harder sell than the Atlanta folks had originally envisioned, perhaps partly because they got a very late start and perhaps because there is something of a backlash against the church's money-making and political ventures by many rank-and-file Poles – including many who are loyal Catholics.
• • •
Two marketing-PR specialists have teamed up to offer a local branch of the British-based Chartered Institute of Marketing, which offers professional qualifications in sales and marketing. They are Kirsten Williamson and Ewa Krolikowska. Krolikowska does marketing for PricewaterhouseCoopers audit practice and already has a diploma from the institute.
"We didn't do too much marketing of our first meeting, but were amazed at how many people came along – 18 people, mainly Poles, and the interest has grown," Williamson said. At the second meeting in mid-September, the speaker was Edward Mier-Jedrzejowicz, who launched the mobile telephone industry here with Centertel, and then went to a Canadian-operated investment fund and now is launching Best Western hotels in Poland.
• • •
The Polish Journalists Association's Press Freedom Monitoring Center is drawing some big names itself for its international seminar on investigative journalism Oct. 22-23. These include Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, half of the Watergate investigative team that helped turn up evidence that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. (Woodward's cohort on the Watergate team was Carl Bernstein, whose most recent book was a bio of Pope John Paul II.)
The center's director, Andrzej Goszczynski, expects about 65 participants for the "reality and legalities" investigative reporting seminar. Other journalists and legal experts expected to attend include Martina Hildebrandt of Der Spiegel, Jean Quatremer of Liberation, German reporter Gunter Wallraff, Jane Kirtley of the U.S.-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Ivon L'Estrange Wallace of Argentina's Asociacion para la Defensa del Periodismo Independiente.
