Implementation date postponed five days ahead
The implementation of the ‘real transfer system’, which allows retirement pension subscribers to easily transfer their accounts to other financial companies, has been delayed by about 15 days. Although the schedule has been delayed, several financial companies are planning to join late next month due to computer problems, and there are significant errors in the data exchange process between companies, so it is pointed out that even this will be a ‘half-launched launch.’
According to the financial sector and financial authorities on the 10th, the Financial Supervisory Service convened securities company executives this morning and inspected the status of preparations for the physical transfer of retirement pension. At this meeting, the authorities decided to delay the implementation of the system from the targeted 15 days to 31 days. A high-ranking official in the banking industry said, “The government had aimed to provide service from the 15th, but it was completely impossible at the moment.”
Physical transfer of retirement pension is a system that allows existing pension products to be transferred to another company without separate cancellation procedures. Until now, if you wanted to transfer your retirement pension to another company, you would have had to sell all your products and turn them into cash, but this has eliminated the inconvenience associated with such ‘transfer’. In the financial world, there are high expectations that the physical transfer system will bring about a seismic change in the retirement pension market worth 400 trillion won.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor and the financial authorities had hoped to implement the physical transfer system from the 15th of this month. On the 8th of this month, the Financial Supervisory Service called executives in charge of retirement pensions at commercial banks and urged them to quickly prepare a physical transfer system.
In the financial world, concerns are spreading about ‘hurried implementation’, saying that the government is trying to push ahead with the service without sufficient preparation. This is because many financial companies have not properly established computer networks. Not only local banks A and B, but also insurance companies C and securities companies B, which are classified as large, do not have a computer network ready to provide physical transfer services. A high-ranking official at a securities company said, “If only a few companies or industries participate in the early stages of implementation, the purpose of introducing the system of ‘changing retirement pensions’ will inevitably become meaningless.” “Not even half of them will be able to participate,” he pointed out.
Another problem is that ‘full text’ containing customer and product information is not smoothly shared between financial companies. In order for a consumer to change their retirement pension, the current company, the company they want to change to, and an information intermediary agency (Korea Securities Depository) must be able to exchange information at the same time. However, due to frequent errors and omissions during the pre-testing process, the concerns of working-level staff are growing. A senior official at the Financial Industry Association said, “Considering that one customer subscribes to multiple products through the pension system, at least 10 financial companies must share the full text of one consumer.” He added, “We sent the full text, but the other party “It’s still not uncommon for people to reply ‘I didn’t receive it,’” he said.
The financial authorities’ position is that they will implement the service on the 31st of this month and then correct and supplement any deficiencies. An official from the financial authorities explained, “As we cannot conduct complete pre-tests, we have decided to implement the system within this month.” The Financial Supervisory Service plans to announce the status of preparations related to the physical transfer system next week based on discussions with market participants up to this day. One pension expert pointed out, “We need to work hard to introduce services centered on retirement pension subscribers, but isn’t the government pushing the introduction of a ‘half-formed system’ because they are so focused on building performance?”
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![[단독]The much-anticipated retirement pension change was actually half-launched.](https://dimg.donga.com/a/180/101/95/2/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/10/10/130192668.1.jpg "[단독]The much-anticipated retirement pension change was actually half-launched.")
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Reporter Kang Woo-seok wskang@donga.com