Metlife pension unit aims for US$230mn assets in 2005

Metlife México's new Afore pension company plans to end the year with 60,000 clients and 2.5bn pesos (US$230mn) in assets under management, local press reported. Afore Metlife sees its growth coming from signing up self-employed and independent workers once the pension authority Consar publishes the new rules, the company's CEO Verónica González was quoted as saying during a press conference Wednesday. Under current regulations, only salaried workers can contribute to the country's compulsory pension fund system based on individual accounts managed by Afore pension companies. Afores have about 33.6 million workers on their books who have contributed at least once to their retirement account, but industry executives put the real number of regular contributors at under 8 million. The incorporation of self-employed workers into the system could boost the Afores client base and assets under management. The sector has suffered from a stagnant labor market that has seen little growth in the country's 12.5 million salaried workers, which represent only about 30% of the economically-active population. While start-up Afores like Actinver and Azteca have relied on extremely low commission schemes to build up their client base, Metlife is focusing on customer service rather than offering the lowest price. "We will provide additional services; planning, hand-in-hand with our client, to offer more services. We aren't the cheapest, but our price is reasonable," she said. Metlife Mexico was the country's largest insurance company at the end of the first quarter, with a 16.3% market share and premiums worth 5.45bn pesos.