Dear members,
As you may know, the Office of the Executive Secretary that administers the pension plan of the IDB (SRP) has approved the missing 1.809% of the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2022 (to be paid retroactively to January 1, 2022), so that the increase for 2022 reaches 100% of the COLA–6.809% for 2022, as required under the Plan. This payment will be received by Plan beneficiaries in June 2022. The Association will continue to closely monitor how the provisions of the Plan are applied in order to ensure that our pension benefits are protected now and in the future.
I would like to address the Association’s response to this unprecedented situation. As we reported in the recent edition of the Association’s newsletter In Touch, for the past six months the Retirees Association has been in constant dialogue with Staff Retirement Plan management, as well as other members of the Plan’s Managing Committee, to advocate for proper application of the Plan’s provisions on cost-of-living adjustments.
We supported our position with a detailed analysis of the provisions, confirmed by legal and actuarial experts we hired earlier this year. We shared the Association’s position and legal analysis with you in an email on April 13 and summarized it in our May newsletter. We were advised by additional outside counsel and were fully prepared to take additional steps (including having drafted a petition to be used by individual retirees) should our position have been rejected. During the negotiations, we were bound by confidentiality rules, so we could not discuss or report on their status. As you know, these processes must follow established procedures and take time.
I would personally like to thank all of the members who contributed to our success: Bob Cole, for having alerted us to the issue; the members of our Retirement Plan and Life Insurance Committee, Ana-Mita Betancourt, Sandra Darville, Álvaro Beca, Pablo Roldán; and Javier Hernández and Kurt Focke, who, as the retirees’ representatives on the SRP’s Managing and Pension Committees, were responsible for interacting directly with SRP.
I am also grateful to the Executive Secretary of the SRP, the IDB Vice President of Finance, and all the members of the Managing Committee for the constructive dialogue that we have had throughout this process.
And I would also like to thank you, the membership, for placing your trust in the Association leadership to work in the interests of all retirees. Should you have any questions, please join us at our virtual Open House on Wednesday, June 22 at 12:30 EST. Email retirees@iadb.org or call us on WhatsApp at 1+202 674-7599 to get the link.
Warm regards,
Isabel Larson
President
IDB Association of Retirees
