The Role of Occupational Pension Funds in Mauritius

Vittas, Dimitri

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: PENSION FUNDS;    CONTRACTUAL SAVINGS;    GOVERNMENT SECURITIES;    CORPORATE SECURITY;    REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3033
RP-ID  :  WPS3033

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Mauritius belongs to a select group ofdeveloping countries where contractual savings-savings withinsurance companies and pension funds-exceed 40 percent ofGDP and represent a major potential force in the localfinancial system. Pension funds account for 75 percent ofcontractual savings. Contractual savings institutions investin government securities, housing loans, corporatesecurities, real estate and bank deposits. They currentlyhold 35 percent of government securities and also accountfor 36 percent of total outstanding housing loans.Giventheir strong demand for long-duration assets, they canstimulate the issue of long-term government bonds (bothinflation-linked and zero-coupon) and the development ofcorporate debentures, mortgage bonds, and mortgage-backedsecurities.Mauritius has a balanced and well-managedmultipillar pension system. In addition to several publiccomponents, such as the Basic Retirement Pension, theNational Pensions Fund (NPF), the National Savings Fund, andthe Civil Service Pension Scheme, there are over 1,000funded occupational pension schemes that play anincreasingly important part in the whole system. The fundedschemes are divided into two main groups-those insuredand/or administered by insurance companies, and those thatare self-administered and are registered with the Registrarof Associations. Coverage of the funded schemes is estimatedat about 10 percent of the labor force. Together with theunfunded civil service scheme, occupational pension schemescover about 100,000 employees or 20 percent of the laborforce. All types of pension funds, including the publicones, report low operating costs. This reflects the absenceof marketing and selling costs and, in the case of largeprivate pension funds, the assumption of some costs bysponsoring employers. The investment performance of theself-administered funds was less than fully satisfactory inthe late 1990s, reflecting poor returns on the local andforeign equity markets. Funds insured or administered byinsurance companies as well the NPF performed better duringthis period because of their heavier allocations ingovernment securities and housing loans. However, over alonger period, the private pension funds probablyoutperformed the NPF. The regulatory framework, thoughfragmented, is not unreasonable. It has many importantprovisions, such as observance of internationally acceptableaccounting and actuarial standards and minimum vesting andportability rules, and it does not impose prescribed limitson investments. However, consolidation and modernization ofthe regulatory framework is required, while supervision,which is currently nonexistent, needs to be developed and tobe proactive.