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Should I change my pension to the Two-Track System? Estimates are now available in Member Self-Service

1 June 2020

The Fund is pleased to announce that retirees can now run their own Two-Track estimates inside Member Self-Service (MSS), provided they retired on or after 03 August 2015.

What’s the Two-Track in brief?

The US dollar is the base currency of all pensions of the UN system.

For retirees and beneficiaries who have their residence in countries for which the US dollar is not the national currency, the Two-Track:

  • Fixes your pension at an exchange rate between the US Dollar and the currency of your country of residence at your date of separation, then applies cost of living adjustment to the amount up to the date you have elected the change.
  • Determines an amount payable based on the evolution of cost of living in the USA and your country of residence, as well as the exchange rate relationship between the USD and the currency of your country of residence.

The Two-Track is an option made available by the Fund so that beneficiaries living in high cost of living countries can receive a periodic benefit that can adapt to the local cost-of-living changes.

An important feature of the Two-Track is that it is only reversible in a limited number of cases (see Section N here).

What is the interest of running a Two-Track estimate?

The new estimate feature aims at providing you with a better understanding of whether it could be of interest to you to select this option. You would run the estimate providing your country of residence and the  estimate would automatically contain the 36-month average exchange rate applicable to your pension case at your date of separation.

Obviously, this estimate will not prejudge on whether the benefits of selecting this option would remain the same in the long term. Inflation (and currencies) in given countries and the US can follow different paths while there are maximum and minimum levels of possible adjustments.

Who will be able to run Two-Track estimates in MSS?

The vast majority of retirees and beneficiaries with a separation date on or after 03 August 2015 will be able to run Two-Track estimates with the exception of a few special cases.

Who will NOT be able to run Two-Track estimates in MSS?

  • All retirees and beneficiaries with a separation date before 3 August 2015.
  • All retirees and beneficiaries who live in countries suspended from the two-track. Click here for a list of suspended countries.
  • Participants who have not yet separated (since we do not have the 36 months average exchange rate at their anticipated separation date)
  • Other special cases.

What if I cannot run Two-Track estimates in MSS?

No problem, we can run a Two-Track estimate for you, please submit your request together with the information of the country of residence for which you would like to obtain an estimation through our online contact form.

The Two-Track system is a feature of the Pension Adjustment System whereby your pension is calculated and maintained both in US dollars and in the currency of the country where you actually reside. For detailed information, please see the Fund’s informative page on Two-Track or our Two-Track tutorial.

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