Transfer Agreements

Once you become a UNJSPF participant, you should promptly inform in writing both your former employer and the UNJSPF of your interest in transferring your accrued pension rights to the UNJSPF. After your eligibility to transfer has been verified, you should ask your former employer to inform the UNJSPF of the amount available for such transfer. The UNJSPF would then give you an estimate of the additional pensionable service credit in the UNJSPF that would result. You would then have to decide whether or not to proceed with the transfer. After the transfer payment has been actually made to the UNJSPF, you would be notified of the additional pensionable service credits that you received in the UNJSPF.

After your eligibility to transfer has been verified, you may request the UNJSPF to provide you with an estimate of the transfer value, to enable you to learn what you would receive under the “receiving” Plan if you were to proceed with the transfer of your accrued UNJSPF pension rights. Should you decide definitively to go ahead with the transfer, the precise transfer value under the applicable Transfer Agreement would be determined and the UNJSPF would remit the amount in question to the “receiving” Plan.

No. In these circumstances the option of availing yourself of the Transfer Agreement would not be open to you. For application of the Transfer Agreement, the payment of the transfer value representing your accrued pension rights would have to come to the UNJSPF directly from the Pension Scheme of your former employing organization.

No, because each participant decides on his or her own whether or not to elect to transfer accrued pension rights under the applicable Transfer Agreement. Any transferring employee who decides not to transfer his or her pension rights will retain all rights to individual benefits under his or her current plan, as they apply upon separation from service.

No, because often a transferring employee would receive substantially less in pensionable service credits than he or she accrued with the “sending” Plan. The decision whether or not to transfer would depend on the combined benefits that you would expect to receive from the “receiving” Plan when you eventually separate from that organization, as opposed to taking a benefit from the “sending” Plan and then getting a separate benefit from the “receiving” Plan.

Yes, information on the deadline and other eligibility conditions is contained in each Transfer Agreement. As the terms and conditions of the individual Transfer Agreements differ, it is strongly recommended that you read the agreement relevant to your case.

No, you must separate from service before applying for transfer of your pension rights. Transfer of accrued pension rights at the end of a leave-without-pay period is governed by the provisions of the applicable Transfer Agreement and can be done only after your LWOP is terminated.

No, the UNJSPF Regulations and Rules make no provision for the assignment of Fund participants on a reimbursable loan or secondment to non-member organizations of the Fund. Annex III.

No, transfers of pension rights into or from the UNJSPF are only permitted where an applicable transfer agreement is in effect.

No. As regards transfers to or from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) the amount of funds transferred is set forth in the applicable agreements and the period of service credited under the “receiving” Plan is equal to that accrued under the “sending” Plan on a straight one-to-one basis. This is known as an “Inner Circle” agreement.

However, the majority of the Transfer Agreements are so called “Outer Circle” agreements, because the pension schemes of the respective organizations/governments are not substantially equivalent to that of the UNJSPF. For these Agreements (i.e. all agreements with the exception of those with IMF, IADB, and WTO), the amount of the transfer value payable by the “sending” Plan is computed under the terms and conditions laid down in the Transfer Agreement.

For transfers to the UNJSPF, the transfer value remitted would result in the recognition of additional pensionable service credits in the UNJSPF, with the length of such service being determined through an actuarial calculation performed by the Consulting Actuary for the UNJSPF.

For transfers from the UNJSPF to a “receiving” Plan, the transfer payment is determined as the larger of the actuarial value of the accrued UNJSPF pension rights or the withdrawal settlement due under Article 31 of the UNJSPF Regulations.

Yes, you should submit a written request for such an estimate. However, a final determination can be made only after your separation from service and confirmation that you are eligible to transfer your accrued pension rights under a Transfer Agreement.

Yes, once you know the transfer amount from your “sending” Plan, you can request an estimate of the length of the additional pensionable service credits to be granted in the UNJSPF, before making the definitive decision to transfer your pension rights to the UNJSPF.