Deputy Nilov: Russians do not use the funded part of their pension because of the propaganda of NPF 
Head of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs Yaroslav Nilov explained why Russians do not use the funded part of their pension. According to him, the root of evil lies in distrust of the system, small pensions and the created image of non-state pension funds. He also agreed with the proposal of the head of Sberbank German Gref to stimulate Russians to form pension savings. The politician shared his opinion in a conversation with Lenta.ru.
Earlier, German Gref said that tax incentives could push Russians to form pension savings. Stimulating the retirement savings of Russians requires significant tax incentives, and for certain categories of citizens – co-financing from the state, he is sure. Gref also believes that the country needs to reform the pension legislation so that non-state funds can offer their clients competitive programs. “Today it is important that non-state pension funds can offer their clients competitive pension and investment programs with interesting strategies and additional services,” said the head of Sberbank.
Rebranding is needed
Nilov believes that it was a mistake from the very beginning to introduce the funded component into the mandatory pension insurance system. He noted that the freezing of this part colorfully illustrates his argument.
“Millions of citizens who have chosen non-state pension funds, and this is about 35 million citizens, do not form a funded pension due to the fact that it is frozen. In general, this is due to the fact that we have a high level of mistrust towards the pension system, disgust towards small pensions, negative attitude towards constant freezing, and stereotypical perception of the existing system. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to induce people to voluntarily form pensions. That is why the government and the Central Bank have been trying for several years to propose some kind of legislative solution so that voluntary formation can be activated and money began to flow into non-state pension funds, ”the politician said.
Nilov added that there are different ways to stimulate the retirement savings of Russians. “What is proposed in the form of tax incentives can be agreed with. In the form of co-financing, too. Although we had co-financing before, it did not work very actively. It is not clear through the reform that non-state pension funds offer competitive pension programs. And what is stopping them today? It's another matter that people with such small salaries and a high level of mistrust do not go to them. In general, I agree with Gref that people need to be motivated financially so that they become interested, but without normal explanatory work and without rebranding of non-state pension funds, the issue will remain in limbo, “said the head of the State Duma's profile committee.
Summing up, Nilov said that the lower house has been working with the government and the Central Bank for several years to reform the mandatory pension insurance system in order to withdraw the funded part from it and transfer it to a voluntary format. But apart from discussions, no legislative proposals have yet been received, the politician added. He explained this by saying that this is a difficult question. “The root of evil here lies in distrust of the system, small pensions and the created image of non-state pension funds,” the politician concluded.
Earlier, Gref named a way to protect savings from inflation. In his opinion, federal loan bonds (OFZ) can help with this. He explained that the face value of these securities is indexed to inflation or whose coupon is tied to the interbank market rate.