“The industry is charged with making this process less tragic, possibly even anticipated by someone who is about to retire”, said Shvetsov, adding that in contrast to developed economies, retiring Russians face both social and financial shock.

He said that pension reform needs to find the precarious balance between the intention to keep pension savings intact and the need to provide economy with long-term investment.

“On the one hand, we want to spend recourses on good deeds, and on the other hand, we want to keep them to pay decent pensions”, said Shvetsov. According to him, non-state pension funds are #1 long-term investment providers in Russia.

“Getting the pension system in tune is one of the top priorities for the Central Bank as well as Minfin”, said Shvetsov. He added that it takes a lot of resources for the ‘instrument’ to play in tune.

Non-state Pension Funds industry reform, Project Group №1