The new centre will oversee a large portion of calculation work for the firm’s business in Europe, primarily for clients in the UK.

No specific timeframe has been given on when it would be operational, but it is likely that it will officially open on November 1. The following six months are expected to be a training period, after which the centre should be fully functional for business.

Frederico Machado Jorge, managing consultant for Watson Wyatt in Portugal, told epn that several new staff would be added. There should be as many as 20 new associates, and they will be supervised by the firm’s senior consultant in Lisbon, Bernie Thomas.

The new recruits will most likely be recent university graduates with degrees in mathematics or statistics, and will be responsible for putting together figures that will be presented to clients across Europe. Their work should be overseen by actuaries already with the firm.

Bruce Wraight, head of public relations at Watson Wyatt, explained that the move was largely driven by cost and efficiency.

He said: “One of the drivers is cost, but it is also better to centralise this kind of work rather than have it scattered. It’s about getting better value for clients.”

Mr Wraight also mentioned that the centre would be complemented by the opening of another valuation office in India. While the Indian centre was announced several months ago, it has taken a considerable amount of time to launch the operation. A similar delay is not expected in Lisbon, but the firm has acknowledged that these types of moves can take time.

While Portugal is a relatively low-cost area for European operations, its pension market remains stagnant. Its market value sits at about €30bn and is dominated by the first pillar pay-as-you-go system. While its third pillar has experienced growth, its second pillar is practically non-existent with only about 1,000 members.

At the moment, its largest fund is the recently created €8bn FEFSS fund, which acts as a buffer fund for the country’s social security system.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend