REPORT AND EXCERPTS FROM ACABQ REPORT: “United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund”:
Report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, A/71/621, 18 November 2016
NOTE: READ THE FULL REPORT (LINK BELOW)
SOME HIGHLIGHTS: Fund should have undertaken end-to-end review (regarding backlog in pension payments) earlier; increase in the number of separations and associated claims could have been anticipated; insufficient justification for approval of a Senior Communications Officer (P5); Fund should expeditiously fill vacant posts; deficit trend will return if investment performance does not achieve or exceed 3.5 per cent real rate of return and Fund must make efforts to meet this objective; corrective measures to be taken on IPAs implementation; Fund must fill or rejustify high number of vacant posts; Fund must report regularly on social and environmental investments of the Fund; SG report to provide information on the performance of the Representative of the Secretary-General (head of IMD); recommendations of the Board of Auditors are unimplemented or ‘in progress’; the Fund must implement all recommendations of the Board of Auditors expeditiously.
EXCERPTS:
“Para. 8. In the view of the Advisory Committee, both the end-to-end review and the establishment of a focal points network should have been undertaken earlier.
“Para. 8. In the view of the Advisory Committee, both the end-to-end review and the establishment of a focal points network should have been undertaken earlier.
Para. 10: In the view of the Advisory Committee, given that a review of the downsizing and closing of previous missions would have provided an indication of the time required to complete the processes, the increase in the number of separations and associated claims could have been anticipated, and the Secretariat and the Fund could have taken measures to prepare for and process the claims in a more timely manner.
Para. 14(a): The Committee considers that insufficient justification was presented for the creation of a Senior Communication Officer (P-5) position and therefore recommends against the approval of this temporary position; any related non post resources should be adjusted accordingly.
Para. 14©: In the view of the Advisory Committee, the Fund should focus on expeditiously filling the vacant posts and thus be in a better position to address the additional workload caused by surges. The Committee considers that the estimated increase in the number of separation cases could be managed with a smaller number of positions than requested. The
Para. 17 (actuarial matters): The conclusions revealed a surplus after three consecutive bienniums of contribution rate deficiency, the surplus being linked to the decision to change the normal retirement age from age 62 to age 65 for new staff as of 1 January 2014. The projected assets of the Fund exceeded the projected liabilities by $562.1 million (or 0.16 per cent of pensionable remuneration) as at 31 December 2015 (A/71/9, paras. 35 and 36). The Committee of Actuaries warned, however, that if investments do not report long-term results at or above the actuarial assumption of 3.5 per cent annual real rate of return over time, the deficit trend would return (A/71/9, para. 40).
Para. 18 (IPAS): The Advisory Committee concurs with the recommendations of the Board of Auditors relating to data migration and key performance indicators and trusts that the corrective measures will be implemented rapidly.
Para. 29 (Performance of the Fund): The Advisory Committee recalls that the General Assembly, in its resolution 70/248, requested the Secretary-General to make all efforts to improve the Fund’s investments performance. While acknowledging the negative impact of currency fluctuations in 2015, the Committee notes that during that year the Fund did not meet its long-term target of an annualized real rate of return of 3.5 per cent and trusts that efforts will be made to meet this objective.
Para. 33: The Advisory Committee reiterates its concern regarding the high number of vacant posts in the Investment Management Division of the Fund, urges the Fund to fill all vacant posts expeditiously and reiterates that, in its view, posts that have been vacant for two years or longer should be rejustified or proposed for abolishment (see A/70/7/Add.6, para. 10).
Para. 36: With regard to the social and governance investments, the Committee was only informed that the Fund has restrictions on investments in tobacco and armament securities. The Advisory Committee trusts that the Secretary-General will provide the General Assembly with information on the environmental, social and governance investments of the Fund and that they will be reported on regularly.
Para. 38 The General Assembly, in its resolution 68/247 B, requested the Secretary-General, in the context of future reports on the investments of the Fund, to provide information on the performance of his representative in discharging his or her responsibilities. The Advisory Committee notes that the present report of the Secretary-General on the investments of the Fund does not contain information on this matter. The Committee looks forward to receiving this information in future reports on the investments of the Fund (see A/69/528, para. 18).
Para. 43. With regard to the recommendations to be implemented by the Investment Management Division, the report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors shows that four recommendations contained in the report of the Board of Auditors for 2014 still remain to be implemented, in particular the recommendation that the Fund explore alternatives to mitigate the foreign exchanges losses, including a detailed cost benefit study for a suitable hedging strategy. In addition, 11 recommendations contained in the report of the Board for 2015 are considered to be “in progress” in terms of implementation.
Para 44.The Advisory Committee stresses the importance for the Fund to implement all recommendations of the Board of Auditors expeditiously.”
No comments:
Post a Comment