Finax has obtained a license to operate the Pan-European Individual Pension Product (OIPE), the company reported.
“OIPE is one of the most interesting financial products to have emerged within the EU. It provides transparency and uniform investment rules across the EU, whose markets have so far operated in a very traditional and fragmented way. All this is to make ordinary citizens of the community understand and become convinced of pension products, regardless of which country they live and work in. Poland’s place in this puzzle is special. We have done a meticulous analysis of tax incentives in all 27 markets, and Poland has very favorable conditions if Poles decide to work abroad and return to Poland to retire. You are also one of the first markets to open up the possibility of transferring local products (IKE), thus opening up competition among market players. It is the customer who will be the ultimate winner of this competition – with a better and cheaper product,” said Finax CEO Juraj Hrbaty, quoted in the release.
OIPE is exempt from the so-called Belka tax, has lower fees and is based on portfolios of global ETFs run by Finax, it stated.
Three times the average monthly salary, or a maximum of PLN 21,312 in 2023, will be allowed to contribute to the “European pension” in Poland. The limit is linked to the exemption of OIPE investments from capital gains tax. Of course, as long as the investor does not prematurely withdraw the funds, it was also stated.
The new product is under the constant supervision of national regulators and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA). The maximum fee has been set at 1% of the value of assets under management annually. For the product offered by Finax, it is 0.72% (0.6% for Finax + VAT).
The portfolio automatically invests in global ETFs denominated in euros, but deposits and withdrawals to EIPE are also possible in zlotys.
“There are about one million Poles saving in individual pension products in Poland. This is still far too few. The introduction of OIPE can change this. We hope that it will not only complement the existing pension products in Poland, but will become an ideal product to start the investment adventure of Kowalski and Kowalska. This is because it combines the features of Finax passive global portfolios, based on the increasingly popular ETFs, with an exceptionally low and transparent fee and no Belka’s tax,” said Przemyslaw Barankiewicz, who heads the Polish branch of Finax.
Robodoradca Finax was established in Bratislava in 2017, and has been operating on the Slovak market as a brokerage regulated by the National Bank of Slovakia since 2018. As of April 2022. Finax in Poland operates as a branch, supervised by the Financial Supervision Commission. In October 2023, the assets of its 10,000 Polish clients exceeded PLN 330 million.