The National Commission of the Retirement Savings System (Consar) announced the limit to which the commissions charged by the companies will be subject Retirement Fund Administrators (Afores) for 2025.
The adjustments made by the commission are in accordance with the provisions of Article 37 of the Retirement Savings Systems Law.
The Afores may collect up to 0.55 percent of the managed asset balancesConsar reported in a statement.
The methodology to define the collection of Afore commissions, The average of the commissions charged in the pension systems in the United States, Colombia and Chile was taken.
The cap on commissions presented by the Consar Governing Board is lower than what was established for this year, which was 0.57 percent.
It should be remembered that the limit for the collection of commissions was established in December 2020 after approval of the Afore reform in the Congress of the Union. The modification was later endorsed by the Supreme Court. Before the reform came into effect, the Afores charged an average commission of 0.81 percent.
Commission cap causes losses for Afores
The ruling circumstantially prejudiced the Afores incomesince between January and September 2019 the institutions obtained benefits of 13,700 million pesos. In 2021, due to the reform and the Covid-19 pandemic, the Afores reported profits of 10,784 million pesos.
At the end of the third quarter of 2024, the Afores reported income of 9,794 million pesos, a figure that exceeded by 45 percent the 6,748 million pesos recorded by the financial institutions in the same period but in 2023.
The aforres that registered the most profits between January and September 2024 were XXI Banorte with just over 2 billion pesos, followed by Sura with 1,768 million pesos and in third place was placed Profuture with profits of 1,487 million pesos.
Consar warns of fraud in unemployment withdrawals
Julio César Cervantes, president of Consarreported a new type of fraud where Afore advisors help make withdrawals for unemployment for an amount greater than the workers’ salary in exchange for a commission, so they already work alongside the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) to stop this mechanism.
The commission reported that they still do not have an exact record of the people who engaged in this practice.
“We have started a very dynamic review through the systems we have in Consar and the IMSS to verify that the workers salary is correct and there is no manipulation,” commented Julio Cervantes.
The fraudulent mechanism worked through the temporary registration of the workers at the IMSS for short periods, a couple of days or a week, without paying the corresponding fees. This situation allowed workers to receive higher unemployment withdrawals.
