INTERAMERICAN Hellenic Life Insurance Company S.A.

05.10.2011 Share

By the recent establishment of the Occupational Pension Fund (OPF) for its employees, INTERAMERICAN didn't only "debut" in the insurance market of our country [Greece], but also introduced a case study, which may be very useful for any ambitious "mimics" in the future.

This is the first OPF which was introduced in our country by an insurance company. The know-how and experience which were acquired during this quite extended project could function as a guide for similar initiatives.

Today the INTERAMERICAN OPF, which employs one full-time employee, counts 550 members, while the assets under management are expected to surpass the amount of EUR 6 million during the first year of its operation.

In the middle of the current financial crisis of our country, and under tough economic circumstances, INTERAMERICAN increased the employees' contributions to the OPF by 50%, compared to the respective contributions to the Group Pension Plan having been in place for many years for its personnel, thus taking advantage of the strong tax incentives. "Someone may reasonably wonder why INTERAMERICAN should initiate the procedure of establishing the OPF, when it already had available a Group Pension Plan for its staff. And what benefits arose for both the Group and the employees," Mr. Andreas Panagiotou, INTERAMERICAN Group Pensions and Occupational Pension Fund Manager, Occupational Pension Fund of INTERAMERICAN Personnel, states.

He explains that the convenient and obvious answer to this question may be the full tax exemption of contributions. However, going one step further, Mr. Panagiotou refers to the beneficial consequences of this tax treatment of the contributions and, among other items, he underlines that "significant growth was noticed in the employees' participation with voluntary contributions, something which indicates that the people of the Group really care about retirement today, especially taking into consideration the substantial social security pension cuts. The increase of contributions to the OPF will definitely lead to the empowerment of the retirement income of the employees and to the effective protection of their standards of living at the termination of the working life."

He also points out that, among other benefits, we should also include the active participation of the employees in the processes of the OPF establishment, something which strengthened their tiers with the company. At the same time, the feeling of security of the staff is enhanced through their direct communication with the OPF, the high level of transparency and, of course, the increased retirement income.

"All these had an immediate effect in the improvement of labour relations and the preservation of labour peace within the organisation, something which, by mathematical precision, may lead only to the long-term increase of productivity."