The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board held its 79th session virtually on 19 - 20 February 2025. The Board session commenced with the election of officers. Key issues discussed included the 2024 General Assembly resolution on pension matters (A/RES/79/253), membership of the Board Committees, the Board 2024 self-evaluation survey results and the Board Work Plan for 2025. The Board considered updates by the Chief Executive of Pension Administration, the Representative of the Secretary-General for the investment of the assets of the UNJSPF, the Fund Solvency and Assets and Liabilities Committee, and the Governance Review Working Group.
Below are the highlights of some of the main issues discussed and decisions taken.
Election of new Chair, Vice-Chairs and Rapporteur for 2025
The Board elected Mr. Gerald Anderson, representative of the Governing Body of the World Health Organization (WHO), as Chair; Mr. Alejandro Rovira, representative of the Executive Heads of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as first Vice-Chair and Ms. Nicoletta Marin-Cudraz Davi, representative of the Participants of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) second Vice-Chair; and Mr. Philip R. O. Owade, representative of the General Assembly of the United Nations, as Rapporteur.
Performance of the Fund
The Chief Executive of Pension Administration, Ms. Rosemarie McClean, highlighted the Fund’s commitment to delivering exceptional service to current and former staff, while facing a 34% increase in workload from 2023 to 2024. She highlighted timely payments in 18 currencies across over 190 countries and 93.2% of initial pension benefits processed within 15 working days from receipt of required documents from member organizations. In 2024, the Fund launched a new customer relationship management system (UNJSPF Connect), issued digital certificates of entitlement to over 50% of the eligible population, and enhanced communication. Future initiatives include enhancements to UNJSPF Connect, multi-factor authentication for the member self-service platform, a new financial suite, more user-friendly pension forms, and expanded educational resources.
The Representative of the Secretary-General for the investment of the assets of the Fund (RSG), Mr. Pedro Guazo, stressed that despite the turbulence of the last five years, the Fund is now in a stronger financial and operational position than it was five years ago. As of 31 December 2024, the preliminary value of the Fund’s assets was US$ 95.4 billion, an increase of over US$7.1 billion from December 2023. The preliminary annual nominal return for 2024 was positive 8.4%, meeting the long-term return objective and efficiency metrics. Following the RSG presentation, the Board discussed the outlook for investments considering the status of the global market and the strategy surrounding certain asset allocations.
2024 self-evaluation survey results
The Board reviewed the results of the 2024 self-evaluation survey, which showed a higher positive response overall in 2024 compared to 2023. The Board took note of the results and acknowledged the importance of continuous improvement of the Board’s performance and working methods to ensure high participation and satisfaction rates.
Pension Board Work Plan for 2025
The Pension Board took note of the workplan and priorities for 2025. Areas to be addressed in the 2025 Board sessions include governance matters, actuarial matters, investment management, risk management, as well as administrative, financial, and audit matters. The Board will also focus on several initiatives to enhance the pension benefits system, including in relation to small pensions, the Two-Track system, spousal and disability benefits and the impact of currency fluctuations on pension benefits.
Governance matters
The Chair of the Governance Review Working Group, which was established to review the adopted governance reforms, provided an update on the status of their work. The Board discussed the Working Group’s recommendations and decided on the following key issues, retaining the size and composition of the Pension Board, re-convening the Ethics Policy Review Group to consider changes to the Ethics Policy, and measures to enhance efficiency by automating certain records managed by the Pension Board Secretariat.
