| About us |
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The Romanian Pension Funds' Association (APAPR) is a professional, non-governmental, non-political, independent, non-profit organization created to protect interests and foster promotion, cooperation and collaboration in the field of private pensions in Romania. It includes pension fund management companies (administrators) and depository banks. APAPR is an interface in supporting and protecting its members' interests in relation to the Romanian authorities, especially those directly involved in the field of private pensions. APAPR represents and protects its members' interests by legislative proposals, sustained dialogue with all involved stakeholders, supervision of professional standards and loyal competition among its members, on all markets they are involved into. The basic principles of APAPR are: 1) professional ethics; 2) prevention of use of privileged data and insider information; 3) transparency (in both market operations and internal activities; 4) equality of members; 5) members' unity of interests; 6) promoting its members' interests and the best interest of the pension funds' participants and 7) avoiding all conflicts of interests. The bodies managing APAPR have a high standard of professional competence and experience in finance, banking and insurance in general and especially in private pensions. The Association drafts or assists other authorities in drafting legislative proposals, technical norms and professional principles, to be applied in managing the private pension funds according to international standards and to local legislation. Also, APAPR promotes by its own means the mechanisms of private pension and investment products, along with technical concepts in the field of private pensions in order to educate and raise the population's awareness regarding the possibilities and advantages of saving in private pension schemes. APAPR is thus a center of information, documentation and experience exchanges in this field. Its members' interests are promoted through a constant dialogue with state institutions who regulate and supervise the private pensions market. Also, the Association reserves the right to forward any case of illegal practices to the responsible authorities. The Association cooperates with the similar organizations and associations in other countries and is member of international organizations in this field, to share data and exchange experience. At the same time, APAPR supports, on EU level, the implementation of level-playing-field practices and equal treatment in the field of private pension funds. The Association was founded in 2004. Starting 2008, APAPR is a full-rights member of EFRP (European Federation for Retirement Provision) and FIAP (Federacion Internacional de Administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones). APAPR currently has 20 members and a 97% representativity level on the Romanian private pensions market. To reach its objectives, APAPR organizes events and supports and promotes third parties' events in the field of private pensions, to debate and solve major problems regarding system design an philosophy. APAPR also elaborates studies and research regarding priorities in regulation and supervision of private pensions funds. Also, the Association encourages its members to attend conferences, seminars and other events, in the field of private pensions, both domestic and international. |