Five years is a relatively short period, but the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund managed to transfer a significant share of its services to the online space in such a short time, guided by the needs of contributors and beneficiaries. The main directions for the development of various UAPF services were spelled out in the Corporate Development Strategy of the Fund for 2017-2021, and now we will sum up the preliminary results of the painstaking work of our employees.
One of the key areas for the development and improvement of the quality of pension services, determined by the Corporate Strategy, is to ensure equal access of participants to pension services through the development of direct, electronic and remote service formats. At the same time, over the past years, the UAPF has expanded the list of pension services provided in electronic format through the UAPF website and mobile application, the portal, the e-gov mobile application, appeals through social networks, etc.
Currently, over 93% of UAPF services are provided in a convenient and efficient electronic format. As is known, contributors and beneficiaries, without leaving their homes, can use almost all the Fund's services literally in a matter of minutes. For example, on the website and in the UAPF mobile application, contributors can at any time and anywhere receive an extract from an individual pension saving account, make changes and additions to their details, receive a certificate of the presence of an IPSA, apply for the appointment of pension benefits in connection with the establishment of disability 1 or 2 groups indefinitely, as well as for voluntary pension contributions, track the status of an application for benefit payment and much more. We emphasize that out of the total number of online services, about 70% are provided on the UAPF website or mobile application.
In order to develop electronic services and a remote service system for UAPF for 2017-2021. integration was carried out with databases and information systems of state bodies: the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazpost JSC, second-tier banks, etc. Thus, work was carried out on preliminary verification of applications for benefits on retirement age; verification and authentication of EDS; informing, sending one-time passwords for maintenance; accepting registered applications for benefits on retirement age; verification of data on established disability; verification of personal data of citizens, statuses of certifying documents, life status; monitoring and building the process of interaction with agents for the payment of pension contributions; verification of data on family ties; implementation of transfer-agency services, etc.
Largely due to the aforementioned integrations, over 20% of UAPF services are provided in a non-application service format. It includes, for example, the automatic opening of individual pension accounts for accounting for compulsory pension contributions (CPC), compulsory occupational pension contributions (COPC) and voluntary pension contributions (VPC). Recall that if an individual does not have an open IPSA in the UAPF, it opens in the UAPF information system automatically upon receipt of the first contribution. In this case, the identification of an individual is carried out according to the personal data specified in the electronic format of the payment order when transferring the CPC, COPC or VPC. As already mentioned, the UAPF receives all the necessary information about the details of the current document and the place of residence of the contributor from the information systems of state bodies.
It should be noted that some of the issues of contributors and beneficiaries are resolved through remote service. Fund specialists through communication channels such as: Call-center, Chat2Desk (messengers WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber and social networks Facebook and VKontakte), UAPF website and mobile application (feedback services, online consultant, blog of the Chairman of the Executive Board) and etc., can easily and easily solve questions on various topics.
Do not forget about the traditional face-to-face service. During the quarantine and lockdown, many citizens wanted to receive information directly at our service offices, and as soon as the restrictions were lifted, both the elderly and young people rushed to the UAPF for the necessary services. By the way, in addition to 176 service offices throughout Kazakhstan, the Fund's services can be obtained at mobile offices (these are specially equipped vehicles that serve contributors, remote villages and regions of our country), from visiting groups of "mobile agents", as well as in 347 branch offices of Kazpost JSC.
We emphasize that, largely due to the preparatory measures taken in advance as part of the implementation of the goals and objectives of the Corporate Development Strategy, the UAPF continued to fully carry out its activities and maintain favorable working conditions and the provision of services to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection COVID-19 among employees and clients of the Fund. In general, during the introduction of the lockdown and quarantine restrictions, the transition to a remote format of work in the Fund was carried out promptly. The activities of the Fund were not suspended for a single day, all pension services remained available to contributors and beneficiaries in full.
In addition, at the beginning of 2021, the Law On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Restoration of Economic Growth was adopted, according to which citizens have the right to use part of pension savings to improve housing conditions and (or) pay for medical treatment not included in the guaranteed volume of free medical care and compulsory social health insurance, as well as for transfer to investment management by private management companies. Despite the tight deadlines and demand among contributors, UAPF ensured the smooth and well-organized operation of all its services. Technical, organizational, informational issues of interaction with government agencies, an authorized operator, custodian banks, investment managers and contributors were worked out. In the Personal Account on the website and in the UAPF mobile application, information on the status of the individual pension saving account includes not only the total amount of savings, but also information on the sufficiency threshold, the available amount, as well as the amount of the lump sum benefit, taking into account the lump sum and deferred payment of individual income tax. The contributor does not need to independently carry out calculations - everything is reflected in their IPSA statement. The pension calculator has been updated, which calculates the future pension in different scenarios - with and without lump sum benefit withdrawals. This helps contributors make a difficult but very important decision - to use the savings now or leave them for their intended use - to ensure life in retirement.
Thanks to the automation of all processes, applications from both the operators and the UAPF were worked out in the shortest possible time. If, according to the Rules, the UAPF could execute applications within 5 working days, then in practice it was possible to do this, as a rule, within no more than 2 business days. Due to well-established processes with authorized operators, most of the procedures (provision of all necessary documents for the improvement of living conditions and medical treatment) were carried out on the side of the authorized operator on the principle of "one stop shop". A lot of work has been done with investment portfolio management companies (IPM). The UAPF website not only provides the necessary information on management companies, but also provides a service for transfer of savings to IPM. In a matter of minutes, the Fund's contributors can transfer their savings to one of the four IPMs.
In conclusion, it is worth emphasizing that the UAPF saw the main goal and mission for the past five years in reliable accounting of pension savings and the provision of quality pension services available to each contributor, the main task of the Fund's employees was to achieve this goal and improve the quality of services. At the moment, the UAPF has adopted a new Corporate Development Strategy for 2022-2026, within the framework of which it will continue the work begun and will carry out further automation of services, develop a proactive format for the provision of services, improve electronic channels for interaction between contributors and beneficiaries with UAPF, taking into account personal needs.
