Pension funds see contributions up 31% in Jan-Oct.

Brazil's private pension funds saw a 31% jump in contributions during the first 10 months to 14.5bn reais (US$5.26bn) compared to the same period last year, Brazilian news service Agencia Estado quoted the local association for private pension funds (Anapp) as saying. All of Brazil's major insurance groups are offering private pension funds alongside their traditional life insurance products. Private pension fund contributions have seen very strong growth during the last couple of years due to the Brazilian public's growing fears over the sustainability of the troubled state-run pension system. Anapp is expecting the private pension funds to close this year with 17bn reais in new contributions, according to Agencia Estado. The number of private pension plans surpassed the seven million mark in October, which represented a 22% increase on the same time last year.