CNPAS and Citi Romania to Pay Romanians’ Pensions Abroad 

Financiarul  

September 5, 2008

Romania

As many as 29,000 Romanian public pensioners settled abroad will be drawing their pension in the domicile state from bank accounts opened to this end by the local pension houses under which jurisdiction their pension records are placed, Citibank Romania reports.

Romania's Pension and Other Social Security Benefits House (CNPAS) has entered a partnership with Citibank Romania SA under which pensions and other social security benefits owed to public pensioners will be transferred abroad into bank accounts opened by the Romanian pensioners involved in the country where they reside or stay, as appropriate. The first such transfers were conducted this July in order to test the transfer procedures.

Romania's accession to the European Union on January 1, 2007, has brought about the cancellation of the provisions concerning residence in the case of pension drawers residing on the territory of the member states of the European Union and then of the European Economic Area (EEA). Under the Community legislation in force, the persons entitled to pension and death benefits according to the Romanian legislation, shall be entitled to them even when the usual domicile is on the territory of other EU/EEA state than Romania.

In order to secure equal treatment of all public pensioners and taking into consideration the requests from other Romanian nationals in the same situation who do not reside in the EU or EEA and cannot designate proxies to this end residing in Romania, a possibility was introduced for the due public pension benefits to be paid on extra-Community territory.

"We have been fully aware of the need to secure the conditions required for the observance of Romania's EU accession pledges, particularly as far as equal treatment of the public pension contributors is concerned, irrespective of the state where people have decided to settle after retirement in Romania. 

In order to guarantee the export of the pension benefits to other countries, CNPAS has invited financial and banking institutions to submit bids for the conclusion of a convention that will secure the payment of the pension benefits abroad. Citibank Romania SA was selected as the CNPAS partner at a public tender conducted in late 2007," says CNPAS Secretary General Stefana Aghergheloaiei.

Citi's presence around the world provides geographical coverage in all the countries involved in this project. CitiDirect Online Banking, Citi's worldwide renowned global transaction platform, provides all the 42 local pension houses of Romania with the requested infrastructure needed for pension remittances.

Thus, in the second half of each month, the local pension houses will transfer the pension benefits denominated in a foreign currency via Citibank Romania. Within two days of the transfer initiation, any pension drawer may withdraw the pension benefits minus the transfer costs that may emerge during the transfer from the bank with which the personal bank accounts have been opened to the country of residence or domicile, as appropriate.

The total number of beneficiaries is put at 29,000, most of whom, or 10,000 are in Germany, and the remaining distributed in Austria (some 5,000 people), Hungary (4,000), Italy (some 3,000), the US (some 2,000) and some 5,000 more in other countries.

Citi has been represented in Romania by Citibank Romania S.A. since 1996 and provides highquality financial services and products to national and multinational companies, small and medium sized companies, public sector and non-for-profit organizations and individuals. Citibank Romania SA has 8 corporate banking branches in Bucharest, Constanta, Ploiesti, Timisoara, Cluj, Brasov, Sibiu and Bacau, and 31 CitiFinancial agencies, dedicated to individual clients. CitiFinancial is also serving its customers through 35 direct sales centers located in Romania's main cities.

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