For the first time in more than two decades, more than a million Colombians once again had the possibility of choosing between the public and private regime when, according to the traditional rules of the pension system, that decision was already almost irreversible. Two years later, that chapter comes to an end.
This July 16, the so-called window of opportunity expires, the exceptional mechanism created by article 76 of Law 2381 of 2024 to allow this change of regime for those who were close to retiring. The closure leaves a still preliminary balance, since the final figures will only be known once the day concludes, but the available data shows that, Although more than a million members met the conditions to benefit from the benefit, finally only a portion decided to use it.
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At the same time, The process leaves open substantive decisions about the transfer of resources associated with these changes and the future of the pension reform itself.
The transfer opportunity was an exception within the Colombian pension system. Under the rules of Law 100, those who were less than ten years away from reaching the pension age could no longer change regime.
However, article 76 of Law 2381 of 2024 opened, for a single time and for two years, that possibility for women with at least 750 weeks of contributions and men with 900 weeks, as long as they first received the mandatory double counseling to compare which regime offered them better conditions.
The most recent figures from Asofondos, a union of the AFP Porvenir, Protección, Colfondos and Skandia, show that, as of June 15, more than 272,000 requests for double advice had been registered, a mandatory requirement to make an informed decision, and 153,392 transfers had materialized between Colpensiones and the private administrators or vice versa.
According to available information, around nine out of every ten changes were from private funds to Colpensiones until that date.
Colpensiones statistics, as of May 31, allow us to gauge the scope of the process. The entity estimated that 1,033,019 members could take advantage of the transfer opportunity, of which 265,626 requested double advice until that moment.
Colombian workers Photo:Carlos Arturo García M.
Of that total, 149,745 filed transfer requests, 148,609 were approved and 719 were rejected, while others remained in process or being validated.
As of that date, 137,398 transfers had also been made from the Individual Savings Regime (RAIS) to Colpensiones, compared to 8,070 movements in the opposite direction.
Split decisions
The figures also show that not all people who received double counseling ended up changing their regime. In many cases, the exercise confirmed that remaining with the original administrator was the most convenient alternative, a result that is also part of the objective of this mechanism, that is, that the decision was made with sufficient information and not only by expectation or perception.
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According to analysis by Asofondos, eight out of 10 workers are better off being in a private fund, given that there they can retire with fewer weeks (1,150) or receive a better return on their money if they do not meet the requirements for a pension. —The average real historical profitability of private pension funds in Colombia is around 8 percent effective annually.
The data also shows that thousands of affiliates used double counseling, but finally decided to remain in the regime where they already were. In other words, the mechanism not only produced changes between Colpensiones and the AFPs, but also allowed decisions to be confirmed.
The double advice was designed so that workers knew the estimated value of their future pension, the weeks required and the implications of each regime. before making a decision that, in most cases, will be final.
Pending bugs
But the closing of the window leaves an issue that is still far from resolved. While the regime changes have already been formalized for those who met the requirements, the debate now focuses on the resources that support these future pensions and that remain under the administration of the AFPs, despite the fact that the affiliates are already part of the regime administered by Colpensiones.
Council of State. Photo:Jesus Blanquicet
As recalled, in April, the Government issued Decree 415 of 2026, by which it ordered the transfer to Colpensiones of the resources accumulated by those who made use of the transfer opportunity, considering that this entity had already assumed the pension risk of said members and that maintaining the resources in the AFPs generated a financial imbalance.
Asofondos, on the contrary, maintains that article 76 of Law 2381 established that these resources must remain in the private administrators until the members consolidate their right to the pension. and has warned that the decree ignores that legal mandate. According to the union, the controversy involves resources close to 25 billion pesos, the situation of which remains pending a decision by the Council of State.
Thus, the expiration of the window of opportunity marks the end of the first major exercise of applying the pension reform, even before there is a definitive ruling on its constitutionality.
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In the coming days, the consolidated figures of how many affiliates finally took advantage of the mechanism will be known, but the decisions with the greatest impact are still pending, since the Council of State will have to resolve the future of the resources associated with these transfers and the Constitutional Court will define whether or not the new pension system comes into full force.
