Nazarbayev urges to toughen control over pension funds

Heads of pension accumulation funds manage the money as if it were their own, believes President Nazarbayev. In this context, he instructed the Government to work out measures to enhance the pension savings system. “Kazakhstan was the first CIS nation to introduce pension savings schemes. The number of those turning to the saving scheme stands at 8 million people. The overall amount of accumulations has exceeded $17 billion”, President Nazarbayev said when delivering his State of the Nation Address January 27. He added that “depositors have no power to influence the pension funds’ investment policies and treat their savings not seriously enough”. “Heads of some pension funds manage the money as if it were their own and serve interests of shareholders (…) and we are not sure what the consequences will be. Therefore the Government in partnership with the National Bank should come up before June with specific recommendations on how to enhance the pension system”, Head of State emphasized.