Ministry of Employment and Financial Supervisory Service: "Let's Increase Retirement Pension Returns... Encourage Market Competition"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jeong-sik and Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Bok-hyun urged financial institutions operating retirement pension businesses to "prioritize the protection of workers' benefit rights and also strive to improve returns."

On the morning of the 28th at 10 a.m., Minister Lee and Governor Lee held a meeting to innovate retirement pension services at the headquarters of Mirae Asset Securities in Euljiro, Seoul. Mirae Asset Securities, where the meeting was held, was ranked first in the retirement pension operator evaluation last year.

As of the end of last year, retirement pension reserves have rapidly grown to approximately 340 trillion won. However, its function as a pension for old-age preparation is insufficient, and the importance of retirement pensions within a multi-layered pension system has been continuously emphasized by many experts.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Financial Supervisory Service decided to further strengthen management and supervision of financial institutions operating retirement pension businesses through this meeting. Attendees included Chairman Choi Hyun-man and executives of Mirae Asset Securities, corporate retirement pension managers, and retirement pension recruitment agents.

First, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Financial Supervisory Service urged financial institutions to "prioritize the protection of workers' and subscribers' benefit rights."

Retirement pension operators are granted special qualifications to operate retirement pension businesses under the Workers' Retirement Benefit Security Act and are entrusted with a 'fiduciary duty' to provide the best interests to workers.

Minister Lee emphasized, "We will actively guide and supervise to prevent any acts by financial institutions that neglect the management of workers' retirement pension reserves or threaten workers' benefit rights. If such acts are confirmed, we will strictly handle them according to laws and principles in consultation with financial authorities."

They also urged efforts to "improve returns."

Entrusting workers' retirement benefits to financial institutions is not only about safely protecting retirement funds but also about generating sufficient returns to enrich retirement funds. However, the average annual return of retirement pensions is only around 1 to 2%.

Governor Lee stated, "We will continuously monitor the establishment of systems introduced to improve returns and induce competition in the retirement pension market's returns through organic linkage of policies and supervision."

Additionally, they emphasized innovating retirement pension services into citizen-friendly services that are easy to access and convenient for the public to use.

Since financial institutions are 'players' in the financial market where social changes are reflected most rapidly, the intention is for them to respond quickly to changes and innovate retirement pensions into citizen-friendly services by reflecting technological and lifestyle changes.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.