Provision of information concerning the payment of supplementary pension – expectations and recommendations

rue du Congrès 12-14 1000 Bruxelles / www.fsma.be FSMA_2026_09 du 18-03-26 Provision of information concerning the payment of the supplementary pension – expectations and recommendations

Scope:
Pension schemes subject to the Act of 28 April 2003 on supplementary pensions and the tax regime thereof and on certain supplementary benefits in social security (LPC), the Programme Act (I) of 24 December 2002 concerning supplementary pensions for self-employed persons (LPCI), the Act of 15 May 2014 containing various provisions concerning supplementary pensions for self-employed business managers (LPCDE), the Act of 18 February 2018 containing various provisions on supplementary pensions and establishing a supplementary pension for self-employed natural persons, for assisting spouses and for self-employed carers (LPCIPP) and/or the Act of 6 December 2018 establishing a free supplementary pension for salaried workers and containing various provisions on supplementary pensions (LPCS).

Summary/Objectives:
This communication describes the FSMA's expectations and recommendations regarding the provision of information, as imposed by law, concerning the payment of the supplementary pension.

Structure:

1. Legal context

2. FSMA expectations and recommendations
   2.1. Monitoring retirement notifications and initiative to provide information
   2.2. Contacting the member
   2.3. Data necessary for payment

3. Legal context
   The law obliges pension schemes to provide members with information concerning the payment of their supplementary pension. This information is generally transmitted upon the retirement 1 of a member. In this case, the timing of the provision of information is linked to the notification of retirement by Sigedis. 2 Under certain conditions, the member may request the pension scheme, via www.mypension.be or otherwise, to pay their supplementary pension before their retirement 3. In this case, the pension scheme must communicate to the member the information relating to payment within thirty days. 4 In the absence of the aforementioned notification or request, the law also provides for the obligation to inform former members who reach the statutory pension age 5 regarding the payment of their supplementary pension.

1 By “retirement”, it is understood “the actual commencement of the retirement pension relating to the professional activity that led to the accrual of benefits” (article 3, § 1st, 22°, of the LPC; article 42, 14°, of the LPCI; article 35, 18°, of the LPCDE; article 2, 13°, of the LPCIPP; article 2, 12°, of the LPCS). Communication

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2 Article 26, § 3, paragraph 1, point 1, of the LPC; article 48, § 3, paragraph 1, point 1, of the LPCI; article 39, § 2, paragraph 1, point 1, of the LPCDE; article 6, § 2, paragraph 1, point 1, of the LPCIPP; article 10, § 2, paragraph 1, point 1, of the LPCS. 3 From the date on which the member reaches the statutory pension age or the date on which they can take their early retirement pension, provided that the pension scheme or pension agreement expressly provides for this (article 27, § 1st, paragraphs 6 and 7, of the LPC; article 49, § 1st, paragraphs 5 and 6, of the LPCI; article 40, § 1st, paragraphs 5 and 6, of the LPCDE; article 7, § 1st, paragraphs 4 and 5, of the LPCIPP; article 11, § 1st, paragraphs 4 and 5, of the LPCS). 4 Article 26, § 3, paragraph 1, point 2, of the LPC; article 48, § 3, paragraph 1, point 2, of the LPCI; article 39, § 2, paragraph 1, point 2, of the LPCDE; article 6, § 2, paragraph 1, point 2, of the LPCIPP; article 10, § 2, paragraph 1, point 2, of the LPCS. 5 Article 26, § 3, paragraph 3, of the LPC; article 48, § 3, paragraph 3, of the LPCI; article 39, § 2, paragraph 3, of the LPCDE; article 6, § 2, paragraph 3, of the LPCIPP; article 10, § 2, paragraph 3, of the LPCS.

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2. FSMA expectations and recommendations
   2.1. Monitoring retirement notifications and initiative to provide information
   As explained in point 1, the obligation to provide information on the payment of the supplementary pension is in principle linked to the notification by Sigedis of the retirement of members.

• The FSMA expects pension schemes to take the necessary operational measures to record and process Sigedis notifications systematically within their management systems, in order to be effectively able to comply with the legal obligations incumbent upon them upon receipt of a Sigedis notification.
• The FSMA recommends that pension schemes regularly evaluate the quality of the operational processes put in place, taking into account the specific risks linked to the nature of the operational process applied (for example, risks due to manual interventions), and periodically verify whether the retirement of certain members or categories of members has not gone unnoticed.
• The FSMA recommends that pension schemes spontaneously report to the FSMA any incidents or failures within their operational processes that will result in the supplementary pension of a large number of members not being paid or being paid late, and to attach, if applicable, an overview of the measures envisaged to regularize the situation.

2.2. Contacting the member
The law does not specify how the pension scheme must contact the member to provide them with information concerning the payment of their supplementary pension. The pension scheme is therefore free to choose the means of communication used (by letter, by e-mail, via a platform, etc.). These are personalized pieces of information that the pension scheme must communicate, which implies at least an “active operation” on its part to ensure that this information actually reaches its recipient 6. If it contacts the member by postal letter, the pension scheme must pay attention to the points mentioned below.

Correct contact details:
A pension scheme that sends information on payment to a given address without being sufficiently certain that the contact details are still correct and thus takes the risk that the information will not actually reach its recipient, does not comply with its legal obligation to provide information relating to payment. The FSMA expects pension schemes to contact members based on up-to-date contact details, and this from the first send. The FSMA recommends that pension schemes directly use the most recent contact details appearing in the National Register, as made available to them via DB2P, or at least verify whether the contact details of members collected internally correspond to those contained in the National Register.

Reminder letters:
The FSMA expects pension schemes to provide for the sending of a reminder letter within a reasonable period in the event of no reaction from the member to their first letter. The sending of this reminder letter (taking into account current contact details) cannot depend on the return of an “undeliverable” letter.

6 Chamber, DOC 55 2942/001, “Bill amending various provisions to strengthen transparency in the context of the second pillar of pension”, p. 78.

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2.3. Data necessary for payment
The law provides that the information concerning the payment of the supplementary pension must also mention the “data necessary for payment”.
The question of whether the pension scheme has all the data necessary for payment is of great practical importance in determining the payment deadline and, consequently, the enforceability of statutory late payment interest. 7 An extension of the payment deadline is only possible if the pension scheme does not have the data actually necessary to proceed with the payment. The pension scheme cannot therefore justify exceeding the deadline by invoking the absence of data that is not necessary and will be liable in this situation for statutory late payment interest. The FSMA therefore strongly recommends that pension schemes refrain from asking members for data that is not necessary for payment. The request for a document may be necessary to prove a specific fact. If this fact is already proven by information that the pension scheme has, or that it can obtain directly via DB2P, the FSMA considers that the request for additional supporting documents from the member is not necessary to make the payment. Certain data is in any case not necessary for payment. This applies, for example, to the request made to the member, before payment, to waive any future legal action concerning the supplementary pension. It is not necessary for the pension scheme to have such a waiver of rights in order to proceed with the payment.

7 Article 27, § 1st, paragraph 1st, of the LPC; article 49, § 1st, paragraph 1st, of the LPCI; article 40, § 1st, paragraph 1st, of the LPCDE; article 7, § 1st, paragraph 1st, of the LPCIPP; article 11, § 1st, paragraph 1st, of the LPCS.