2006-04-18
The Governor of the National Bank of Serbia issued this Decision to regulate the advertising practices of voluntary pension fund management companies. It mandates that all advertisement texts be approved by the central bank, written in Serbian, and contain clear, unambiguous information regarding fund performance, fees, and risks. The regulation specifies detailed requirements for disclosing historical returns, calculating potential amounts, and maintaining comprehensive informational content on company websites and physical premises.
"RS Official Gazette", no. 23/2006 Pursuant to Article 50, paragraph 7 of the Law on Voluntary Pension Funds and Pension Schemes ("RS Official Gazette", no. 85/2005), Governor of the National Bank of Serbia hereby issues the following D E C I S I O N ОN THE ADVERTISING OF VOLUNTARY PENSION FUNDS AND STANDARDIZED ADVERTISEMENT TEXT
2 4. In its advertisements, the fund management company may publish data on the fundís returns that have been calculated in line with regulations, provided that it publishes data on the number of fund members, assets constituting the fund and fees charged to fund members. 5. Information on the fundís returns shall be disclosed for each of the last five years on a quarterly basis (from quarter/year ñ quarter and year marking the commencement of the period of return calculation, until quarter/year marking the end of the period of return calculation), in a standardized table given below: Name of the fund From Q/year until Q/year % From Q/year until Q/year % From Q/year until Q/year % From Q/year until Q/year % From Q/year until Q/year %
If the fund exists less than five years, sign "ñ" shall be placed in the fields for missing years. The fund management company may also show data on the fundís returns in the form of chart on cumulative (total) return for a specific period, taking into account that the shortest period is considered to be a period of the last five years, and the longest ñ a period of the last ten years. The advertisement text must contain the following: "Previously generated returns are not a guarantee of future results. Future returns may be higher or lower than the previous ones." If the advertisement text features data on the return of another fund, and/or comparison with the returns of another fund, only the data comparing the level of riskiness of the investments of the assets of such funds may be given. 6. When advertising the level of the fees charged to fund members, their influence on the returns generated through the investment of the fundís assets, and the costs borne by fund members shall be disclosed in a conspicuous manner. With respect to advertising referred to in paragraph 1 hereof, the following shall be stated: ñ fee charged on payment of pension contributions, ñ fee for fund management, ñ fee for the transfer of the fund memberís account.
3 7 If in the advertisement text, the potential amounts of the fund are calculated on the basis of parameters such as the amount of contribution, number of years of accumulation, or returns ñ the following rules shall also apply:
4 13) names of bodies, procedures and deadlines for rendering decisions in respect of complaints about the operations of the company and the fund it manages, as well as documents and other data that the company is, pursuant to the law, obligated to publish (date of publication and name of daily newspaper where they are published); 15) the look of identification documents used by the companyís intermediaries in contact with the fund members and future clients; 16) link for the Voluntary Pension Fund Register, maintained by the National Bank of Serbia. 9. The basic data on the fund management company, on the level of fees charged to the fund members and fundís returns for each of the five previous years, and/or for the number of years that the company exists, as well as other relevant information, must be displayed in a clear and conspicuous manner on the fund management companyís premises or on the premises of its intermediary intended for contact with fund members. 10. The fund management company shall submit to the National Bank of Serbia application for the issue of approval of advertisement text (advertisement and public invitation), along with a copy of the advertisement, and/or public invitation. In the process of rendering a decision in respect of the application referred to in paragraph 1 hereof, the National Bank of Serbia may require from the fund management company the submission of other information and data. 11. This Decision shall enter into force on the eighth day following its publication in the "RS Official Gazette", and shall be applied as of 1 April 2006. D. no. 18 G o v e r n o r 10 March 2006 National Bank of Serbia B e l g r a d e Radovan Jelaöić, sign.