The topic of savings investment remains relevant, with multiple options available, ranging from traditional term deposits to savings certificates and pension funds. In this article, the Insurance Department of Belzuz Abogados, S.L.P. specifically addresses the issue of pension funds, particularly the types of pension funds and their establishment.
A pension fund can be defined as an autonomous asset exclusively intended to finance one or more pension plans and/or health benefit plans.
Pension funds can be closed (when they concern only one member or, if there are several, when there is a business, associative, professional, or social link between them) or open (when no link is required between the different contributors to the fund, with membership depending solely on acceptance by the management entity). Thus, the type of fund to be established will always depend on the purpose and the participants to be covered.
The establishment of a pension fund, whether open or closed, always requires prior authorization from the ASF, which must be requested by the management entity, accompanied by the necessary documents.
Closed pension funds are established through a constitutive contract in writing between management entities and members, who may be companies, groups of companies, associations (including socio-professional), or employers’ and trade unions. In addition to the constitutive contract, a management contract must also be concluded in writing between the members and the management entities.
Open pension funds are established by a management regulation subscribed by a pension fund management entity and may be subject to collective or individual membership:
- Collective membership is carried out through a written contract between the member, or several members (when there is a business, associative, professional, or social link between them), and the management entity, according to the respective management regulation;
- Individual membership is carried out through a written contract between the management entity and the contributor, according to the respective management regulation.
It is important to mention that each of these contractual instruments (constitutive contract for closed pension funds, management contract for closed pension funds, management regulation for open pension funds, collective membership contract for open pension funds, and individual membership contract for open pension funds) has a minimum legal content that must be present in the text, so specialized support is essential for their drafting or review.
It should also be noted that constitutive contracts, management regulations, and collective membership contracts are subject to mandatory publication, although, in the latter, sensitive commercial matters such as commissions or remuneration may be safeguarded.
Belzuz Abogados S.L.P. – Portugal Branch has extensive experience in the establishment of pension funds and in drafting and reviewing the necessary contractual instruments, with a multidisciplinary team skilled in regulatory compliance and support for these processes before supervisory authorities.