“We have had more than one fight in this matter (…) We have not done well”: Government addresses the case of Felices y Forrados, the pension advisers and calls for greater regulation

The government addressed this morning the case of Happy and lined amid the suspicions generated by its business model and the effective repercussions that its recommendations have on the financial market, particularly on the dollar.

In this context, the Minister of Labor, María José Zaldívar and her peer from the Treasury, Ignacio Briones, referred to the need and importance of having greater regulation around pension consultancies.

“We have given more than one fight in this matter together with the central bank. We have not done well “, acknowledged this morning the head of Teatinos 120 in an interview with radio la Clave.

“Regulation is key, especially when they generate price movements that can also be a source of obvious conflict of interest and inside information”Briones said.

In that conversation, the head of the fiscal wallet wondered why the country has not been able to legislate on this matter.

“It has always been very complicated, very complicated. So there… we have said it with the president of the Central Bank, we have gone to Congress; Every time we have wanted to move in that direction, we have failed. So one wonders why the regulation that is so necessary in the financial market, in this case would not apply “said the authority.

These statements are given in the context of the repercussions that the article in La Tercera had regarding the ties of the founder of Felices y Forrados, Gino Lorenzini, with Senator Ximena Rincón and her brother, the lawyer Ricardo Rincón, who is also a lawyer for the signature.

María José Zaldívar, for her part, also acknowledged that “we have an issue that is very important with pension advisers” because the system “is very complicated” and people do not know it fully.

“A typical very wrong decision is when a pension advisor asks ‘why don’t you retire while you continue working and then your income increases to double’ and in many cases this profoundly affects the future pension, because I am using resources before, that I do not need them “Said the Secretary of State on Pauta radio.

Zaldívar said in that sense said that the Executive has raised “Already on several occasions” the need to regulate and make this relationship “much more” transparent and to avoid damages for the rest of the pensioners.

“As the president of the Central Bank has pointed out, by limiting transfer times, it is not limiting transfers, but yes, this is verified with a longer period of time to avoid that the fund managers have so many resources in very liquid investments that do not give a great return “the minister warned.

Zaldívar also addressed the meetings she held with Gino Lorenzini and Felices y Forrados when she was undersecretary of Social Security, an appointment that was registered by the Transparency Law.

He said that Felices y Forrados raised a series of issues that they considered should be addressed in the pension reform, because they considered that they were not properly legislated in the current legislation.

“Then they brought us a minute, they gave us all the exposition of what their technical foundations were, and just like many people we received them in audience, one later analyzes the antecedents to see if what is being raised really corresponds or not. and what are the fundamentals ”, he commented.