OREANDA-NEWS. On September 05, 2007 Parex Asset Management (PAM), a subsidiary of Parex banka announced that according to the published data on tier 2 pension plan returns for the first eight months of 2007, PAM retains its leading position in the sector. Parex Active Pension Plan has shown an annual return of 9,83%, which exceeds the inflation rate in Latvia, reported the press-centre of Parex banka.

As of November 1, 2007 the State Treasury will stop managing 2 tier pension plans. Therefore 85,000 participants of the Treasury's pension plans will be “re-directed” to new fund managers, to be determined on a competitive basis. Unsatisfactory performance was observed not only at the Treasury; the returns from , various fund management companies have been fluctuating between a range of 0,55% to 9,63% per annum in the past 3 years. In the same period the return on pension plans managed by the State Treasury represented 2,53% per annum.

Therefore the decision which manager to choose should be made personally, rather than waiting for the automatic relocation of earned pension funds to another fund manager.

Sergej Medvedev, the first Vice President of Parex Asset Management comments: “It is crucial not to miss the opportunity to apply for the change of the fund management company before September 28. This serious decision should be made responsibly, based on the performance of investment management companies.”

In the 2-tier pension level Parex banka offers 2 pension plans: Parex Active and Parex Universal. The 3rd tier pension level includes Parex Open Pension Fund, which offers its customers 3 plans: Balanced, Supplementary Pension Active and Supplementary Pension Active USD. Parex pension plans are the second in Latvia in terms of the number of participants, representing a market share of 19,6% for 2nd tier and 36% for 3rd tier. The number of participants in Parex pension plans has grown by 24,000 in the first eight months of 2007, thus amounting to over 229,000.