Individuals should benefit from pension funds investment

It has been more than a year since the pension insurance fund in Guangdong province started operating in the capital market, which is also the first case of a pension fund entering the market in China. But lately, its profit situation is a cause of public concern as individual accounts may not share gains from its operation in the future, says an editorial in Beijing News. Excerpts:

Although the current earnings of the pension insurance fund are not yet published, people are paying close attention to the situation in Guangdong province. Because the fund is a huge investment in the market, the fund's security is the foremost issue on concern to common peoples. For another, income from investments and how to distribute the gains are a public concern as individual contributors should benefit from the investment.

However, there is no specific answer yet according to the local authority now. Moreover, people have confidence that investments are safe, but they are concerned more about income distribution. According to investment common sense, contributors should be told of the fund operation situation and benefit from its gains. In the pension-fund case, the 100 billion yuan are collected by social pooling accounts or many individual accounts, and to some extent from the personal accounts in Guangdong province.

Therefore, when it's time to distribute profits, there should be an income distribution measure published by the central government. Otherwise, Guangdong province will have a hard time completing a successful trial. Only when the right to know, right of supervision and right to earnings are guaranteed by the related ministries and departments can we create favorable conditions to pension funds entering to the capital market and earning public support.