The UN Pension Board
The UN Pension Board met from 22 July to 27 July 2019 at the UN premises in Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Seenappa, President, AFUNPI participated in the UN Pension Board as a member of the FAFICS delegation. The Pension Board was informed by the Representative of the Secretary General that the market value of the Fund was 67.4 Billion US Dollars as at end of June 2019 and that 85 per cent of the investments were internally managed by the Fund. The PB noted that the investment performance of the Fund was excellent. The Board further remarked that the Office of Investment Management (OIM) continued to ensure that the investments of the Fund in any market are made prudently, taking fully into account the four main criteria for investment, namely, safety, profitability, liquidity and convertibility. To further improve the performance of the investments, ALM study suggested changes to the existing Strategic Asset Allocation of investments that included a small reduction of investments in public equity, and increase in private equity and real estate investment classes. and the Pension Board endorsed these changes. Based on the current investment performance and considering other influencing factors, the consulting actuary indicated that the solvency of the Fund was estimated to extend for over thirty years.
The UNJSPF Fund Operations reported to the Board that the speed of processing new cases has improved and that more than 75 per cent of the new cases were now being processed within 15 business days. The Governance Working Group established by the Pension Board, in its report on the size and composition of Pension Board suggested to keep the number to 33. The working group was requested to review the proposed number after more consultations with the stakeholders. PB recommended that the Governance working group continues its review further and submit a final report to the Pension Board in 2020. Direct election of UN retiree representatives to the Pension Board from among UN retirees was discussed and was strongly contended by the representatives of FAFICS.
The Pension Board recommended by consensus that Ms. Rosemarie McClean (from Canada) be appointed as Chief Executive of Pension Administration for a term of five years. The Pension Board endorsed the request for an independent Pension Board Secretariat in compliance with the General Assembly Resolution 73/274, which called for a separation of the roles of the Chief Executive of the Pension Administration and the and Secretary of the Board. The Board approved a substantial increase in the number of posts for the OIM. The revised budget of US $184,916,800 for administration of the Pension Fund for the biennium was endorsed.
The UN Day and Monthly meetings of AFUNPI
The UN Day was observed by AFUNPI at a special meeting held at the Century Club Bangalore on 24th October 2019. On this occasion, Dr. Prem Nath presented an overview of the global food and nutritional security followed by discussion. The meeting also discussed on the role of UN in facing current global peace and security challenges. The UN Day in New Delhi hosted by the UN Resident Coordinator was attended by Mr. R.P. Agrawal, AFUNPI Vice President. All the planned monthly AFUNPI meetings were held with good participation of members and spouses. Lecture topics presented during the monthly meetings included Border security - how it works, UN peace keeping, mental health etc.
FAFICS Council
The meeting was held from 15 to 18 July 2019, in Vienna: AFUNPI was represented at the FAFICS council held in Vienna in July 2019 by Mr and Mrs Srinivasan, Vice President of AFUNPI, Dr Narasimhan, former President of AFUNPI and Dr. Seenappa, the present President. AFUNPI delegation highlighted few key issues affecting retirees during an interactive session with the senior staff from UNJSPF New York as well as of Geneva offices attended the council meeting. The topics as in previous years included problems in mailing of copies of Certificate of Entitlement (CE) by UNJSPF and non-receipt of CE forms by few retirees on time, need for re-introduction of two-track estimation in UNJSPF web site, acknowledgement of documentation status in the MSS mailbox and the need for UNJSPF to respond to emails / letters. UNJSPF staff informed that client communication is now made easier through the web site: https://www.unjspf.org/contact-us/, through Member Self Service (MSS) that has the CONTACT form (CE), Direct emergency email options include
Further, all retirees are urged to register in MSS and obtain a Unique Identification Number. MSS has a ‘query’ and ‘contact us’ options to receive email answers from UNJSPF.
AFUNPI Member Services
Largely due to the streamlining of the UNJSPF website and its client services, there has been substantial improvement in communication with UNJSPF. AFUNPI continued to assist members who were affected due to delays in getting pension, missing CE forms, survivors and child benefit and guidance to the double track option. Mailing address remains as
UNJSPF PO Box
5036, United Nations, NY 101163-5036 USA
Or
by Fedex / DHL UNJSPF 37th Floor,1 DHP, 885 second Ave. NY 10017
Telephone 00-1-212-963 693
Toll-free access from India 1800 2001 401.
Member recognitions
AFUNPI is pleased to announce and congratulate Dr Rajendra Shende, Former Director at UNEP for being nominated by the Government. of India to UNEP Technical and Economic Assessment Panel. Dr Shende is currently Chairman of TERRE Policy Centre. Dr. Seenappa, was nominated by the UN Pension Board to the UNJSPF Budget Committee for 2020. Further, Dr. Seenappa continues to be a member of the Fund Solvency and Assets and Liabilities Monitoring Committee. He participated in all the three meetings held in New York during 2019. Few UNICEF members of AFUNPI participated in the global X UNICEF annual get together held in Armenia and Georgia.
Acknowledgement
Success of FAFICS activities during the year 2019 was largely attributed to the dedicated efforts by the AFUNPI executive committee, the social coordinators, Vice Presidents, Honorary Secretary and the President Emeritus. These voluntary and dedicated efforts are greatly appreciated. Participation of Mr J. Sundaresan Former Hon. Secretary of FAFICS in the AGM of AFUNPI held at Bangalore in February 2019 is highly commendable. Financial situation of AFUNPI has remained stable largely as due to increased voluntary contributions for operational costs. During the financial year 16 members contributed a total of Rs. 1,66,600. All contributions are gracefully acknowledged.
Dr. M. Seenappa
Hon. President, AFUNPI
