Deputy Diego Schalper sent a formal request to the Pension Superintendency and the Financial Market Commission (CMF), the body that oversees banks, insurers and the securities market, according to BioBioChile. He sought information about negative returns in AFP (Pension Fund Administrators) Fund E.
Fund E is the most conservative of the five pension fund options. It invests mainly in fixed income, meaning instruments such as bonds that pay a predetermined rate of interest. That is why it is often the choice of people nearing retirement who want to avoid surprises.
According to the outlet, the lawmaker's main concern is those members approaching retirement. If your savings are in Fund E because you are close to retiring, you have less time to recover from a decline.
Schalper also requested a special session of the Chamber of Deputies' Labor Committee. He announced this on X, where he wrote that the aim was for the authorities and AFPs to provide explanations. He added that retirement savings deserve "clear and firm answers".
In the formal request, the deputy acknowledges that fixed income is exposed to market fluctuations. Even so, he argues that the scale of the losses requires a public explanation. BioBioChile's report does not specify the size of the decline.
The information he requested includes a breakdown of Fund E's monthly returns over the past 36 months. He also asked for the largest declines to be identified and for the number of members affected.
The lawmaker also wants to know whether regulators detected the risks of these investments in time and what warnings or instructions they gave the administrators.
Another focus of the document is potential breaches. Schalper requested information on inspections, audits and sanction proceedings over the past 24 months.
He also asked for clarification on when an AFP could be held liable with its own assets for breaches. The aim is to distinguish those situations from losses arising from normal market fluctuations. Put simply: to distinguish bad luck from poor management.
Finally, the deputy asked whether changes to investment and oversight rules are being considered, and whether the agencies will publish a technical report explaining the losses and measures to reduce risks for members. The date of the special session has yet to be announced.
