BBVA's pension fight with Bolivia moves forward

Spanish banking giant BBVA's arbitration case against Bolivia has been officially registered with the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

BBVA is taking action against the country over the nationalization of its local pension fund manager, BBVA Previsión.

The dispute will be heard under ICSID's additional facility rules, geared to certain cases that fall outside the scope of the ICSID convention.

Issues at stake include the valuation of the pension business.

BBVA will be represented by the Madrid office of London-headquartered global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, according information on ICSID's website. Bolivia will be represented by the state attorney general's office.

Under legislation signed into law in 2010, assets managed by Bolivia's two private pension fund managers, or AFPs as they are known, transfer to a state-controlled administrator.

The other AFP operating in the Andean nation is Swiss insurer Zurich's Futuro de Bolivia.

A state-controlled administrator has been established to run the fully funded, defined contribution schemes, but last year the government said it was postponing its launch until March 2019.

Bolivia also provides non-contributory social pensions (renta dignidad) and operates a semi-contributory old age solidarity pension scheme.