NPF Alfa

Main article: NPFs in Russia

History

2024: Alfa Group plans to create its own NPF

Alfa Group launches its own non-state pension fund (NPF). This became known on August 8, 2024.

According to Interfax Central Bank Russia reports, he registered the issue of ordinary shares of NPF Alpha JSC. However, by August 9, 2024, the legal entity has not yet been entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRUL), and information about the founders and the amount of capital of the new NPF has not been disclosed.

Bloomberg

The new fund plans to offer customers options to participate in the long-term savings program. Alfa Bank, part of Alfa Group, declined to comment on its possible involvement as a co-founder of the new NPF.

For Alfa Groups, this is not the first experience in the pension market. In 2000, Alfa-Bank already received a NPF license. However, that fund was relatively small: in October 2009, its actual capital was ₽33,3 million with the necessary regulatory minimum of ₽50 million, and the number of participants in non-state pension provision barely exceeded 5,000 people.

According to Vedomosti, the creation of a fund from scratch is a rare practice in the NPF market. Usually funds were acquired as a set of assets, and their value was formed around a percentage of assets. During periods of high activity in the market, the value of funds could reach 20% of assets, and at a calmer time - units of interest. The cost of directly obtaining a license for a new NPF will be relatively small compared to the cost of acquiring an existing fund. However, the exact amounts are not given.

The creation of a new NPF with its own insurance companies (Alfa-Bank has two of them) may indicate the recognition of regulatory arbitration in solving similar problems. Director of the Department of Insurance and Economics of the Social Sphere of the Financial University Alexander Tsyganov suggests that the word of regulation for insurers and NPFs may level out, or the parameters of pension reform may be changed. The costs of creating or acquiring NPFs will be justified if the company already has a pool of clients who are ready to conclude contracts with a new fund on current terms with the participation of state co-financing, he added.^[1]

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