As of today, the Financial Market Authority (FMA) has published “Minimum Standards for Informing the Beneficiaries (Entitled) of Staff Provision Funds”. “Following our minimum standards concerning the information requirements of Pensionskassen, the life assurance sector and occupational pension group insurance, this is another step in the FMA’s Initiative for Transparency,” says FMA Executive Director Heinrich Traumüller.
The FMA Minimum Standards specify and complement the statutory provisions on the annual information requirements, in particular with regard to the following points:
- The beneficiaries (entitled) must not only be informed about the ongoing contributions made by the employer but also about any existing severance pay expectancies transferred during the previous business year. This way, the beneficiaries (entitled) can verify whether the amount remitted to the staff provision fund corresponds to the amount they had agreed upon with the employer.
- The costs to be borne by the beneficiaries (entitled) have to be listed in a more detailed manner in future, since cash expenses, administrative expenses and portfolio management costs have to be stated separately.
- In order to enable the beneficiaries (entitled) to gain an insight into the investment modalities of their severance pay expectancy, apart from the general principles of investment policy and an explanation of the risk potential entailed with the investment, the investment focus also has to be given in the account information.
- In the case of a claim being established by the termination of the employment relationship , the staff provision fund must explain the disposal options, the administrative process as well as the consequences that will arise if no decision about the disposal is reached to the beneficiaries (entitled).
“The FMA Minimum Standards for Informing the Beneficiaries (Entitled) of Staff Provision Funds ensure that the meanwhile more than 1.7 million beneficiaries of the nine staff provision funds regularly receive standardised, clearly understandable information about their claims under the new severance pay scheme. This increases transparency and makes comparisons easier,” summarises FMA Executive Director Mr Traumüller.
For further information please contact
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-5106
+43/(0676)/882 49 516