Banking and Financial Unions Challenge Joaquín Cortez’s Appointment as Superintendent of Pensions

Original article: Confederación de Sindicatos Bancarios y del Sistema Financiero cuestionaron designación de Joaquín Cortez como Superintendente de Pensiones

In a public statement, the Confederation of Banking and Financial Unions expressed concerns over the appointment of Joaquín Cortez (featured in the photo) as Superintendent of Pensions, highlighting that this was one of the first decisions made by the government of José Antonio Kast.

For workers in the sector, Cortez’s appointment «not only draws attention due to its speed but also, crucially, for placing at the helm of the agency responsible for overseeing pension funds a man whose career is deeply rooted in the core of the financial system that these same funds support.»

«He is not a skilled technician or a career civil servant in regulation. Joaquín Cortez is, above all, a historical proponent of the capital markets,» the statement adds.

In this context, the Confederation pointed out that Cortez’s education at the Pontifical Catholic University and the University of Chicago «is not an anecdotal detail, but rather a clear indication of his ideological imprint, the same one that shaped the individual capitalization system imposed during the dictatorship and turned pensions into a business rather than a right.»

«His professional background reinforces this assessment. He was involved with Odeplan in the 1980s, moving on to the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank, Banco Edwards, Santander Investment, and Bankers Trust, culminating in his role as investment manager and later president of AFP Provida,» the union organizations emphasized.

«What can be expected from someone with this history in charge of the Superintendence of Pensions? Hardly the well-being of workers. Everything suggests a deepening of the existing model: increasing individual capitalization, boosting financial investment, and ultimately, more exposure of pension savings to the dynamics of profitability and speculation,» the Confederation asserted.

At this point, the statement reminded readers that pension funds «are not resources that fall from the sky. They are part of the salary of workers. They result from the labor of millions of people who, month after month, finance a capital market that has grown and strengthened precisely because of that pool of resources that must be handed over to be managed by private entities.»

Read the full statement below:

El Ciudadano