Pension fund

The Single Social Security Entity (EFKA), the country's new unified pension fund, Tuesday announced the suspension of an employee at the fund's branch in Patra, western Greece, in connection with the embezzlement of more than 100,000 euros from EFKA.

The coordinating committing of the Greek union of notaries on Tuesday announced its members would not be taking part in home auctions initiated by the Greek state, banks, pension funds and municipalities on Wednesday.

However, certain auctions could go ahead if permission was applied for by notaries, including those aimed at collecting unpaid wages or alimony, for instance.

After Labour Ministry started to investigate the increasing debts run up by the State Pension Fund, PIOM, it rushed to repay its multi-million euro owings, private pension funds confirmed.

PIOM's debt burden had raised questions about its liquidity and the government's policy of annual pensions increases.

A new social security plan published by Greece’s newspaper To Vima refers to a scheme that aims to merge insurance funds. This new plan has been submitted to the Employment Ministry and applies to all people insured from 1992 onwards.

China will allow its huge state pension fund to invest in domestic stocks in the wake of a massive market sell-off, it was announced on Aug 23.

Turkey's largest private pension fund Oyak has agreed to buy German alumina products maker Almatis from Dubai International Capital (DIC), the company said in a statement on July 14.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

However, a person familiar with the deal said that DIC was able to achieve a price close to its expectations of around $1 billion.

Croatia has dumped controversial plans to offer its state-owned highways in a concession to private foreign companies, and has decided to offer shares in the highways to ordinary citizens instead.

The government is to offer the shares in the state-owned company Croatian highways, HAC, which manages most of the highways, to both ordinary citizens and pension funds.

With pressure growing on state coffers as cash reserves run low without any immediate prospect for the release of rescue loans, the government on Monday signed a legal degree obliging state bodies, with the exception of pension funds, to transfer their reserves to the Bank of Greece for the state?s use.

In response to a question tabled in Parliament by Golden Dawn MP Georgios Galeos over the management of Greece’s state-run pension funds, Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas said funds would be able to manage better their cash reserves by depositing them in the Bank of Greece.

 Social security funds reluctant to help out

By Sotiris Nikas & Roula Salourou

The government has called on major public corporations, including utilities, to invest their cash reserves in state debt, along the lines of the proposal made to social security funds and other state entities.