Mexico retirement accounts: 17 million lack registered owners

Approximately 17.4 million individual retirement savings accounts in Mexico are currently assigned but lack registered owners. This status prevents workers from choosing their preferred retirement fund administrator (Afore), receiving periodic account statements, correcting personal data, or monitoring investment returns.

To address this backlog, the National Commission for the Retirement Savings System (Consar) is organizing the ‘Feria de las Afores’ from October 8 to October 12 in the Iztacalco borough of Mexico City. The event will bring together all 10 operating Afores and various public institutions, including IMSS, Infonavit, and SAT, to provide free services such as verifying social security weeks, unifying social security numbers, and consulting housing fund balances.

When a worker begins contributing to the IMSS without selecting an Afore, Consar assigns the account to an administrator based on net returns and commission rates. These assignments are not permanent; accounts are assigned annually or reassigned every two years according to regulatory provisions.