Explaining your pension

Your BNP Paribas Pension is one of the main employee benefits you’ll receive as a BNP Paribas employee, so it’s worth getting to know all the ins and outs of the Plan.

You don't have to be an expert investor either - if you want to, you can take a ‘hands-off’ approach, and your contribution level, where your savings are invested and your retirement age will all be set for you. 

But if you do want to take a more active role in your retirement planning, you can. You have the option to increase your contributions, tell us where to invest your money and choose what age you retire at.

Read the 'Your Plan explained' booklet for information on the features and options offered by the BNP Paribas Pension.

As an employee of BNP Paribas, you were contractually enrolled into the BNP Paribas Pension (regardless of your age or salary) as soon as you started working for the Bank. 

As a member of the Plan, you have your own pension savings account, where any contributions made by you and BNP Paribas will be invested.

For details of the contributions paid by you and the Bank, please refer to your 'Contributions explained' document. This document can be found in the Plan Information section of your PlanViewer account ('Plan Forms and documents') which you can access through Spectrum.

As a UK resident, you may be eligible to receive tax relief from the government too. The BNP Paribas Pension is a 'salary sacrifice' arrangement, which means that you agree to 'sacrifice' a percentage of your earnings (and take a reduced salary) while the Bank increases its contribution to the pension scheme by the same amount that you have sacrificed. In this case, there is no tax relief to claim because you’ve already been taxed on a lower salary amount.

You don’t have to do anything to remain a member of the Plan, but if you decide not to stay in the Plan, you can choose to opt out when you’re first enrolled or you can stop contributing later on.

It’s up to you if you wish to leave the Plan. There are time limits for opting out and you’ll only get back what you paid in. Any contributions BNP Paribas has made will be returned to them. You can stop contributing at any time after the opt-out deadline, but any contributions you or the Bank has made after that point will remain invested.

If you choose to opt-out, you have the right to opt back into the plan at least once a year. You will also be automatically enrolled back into a plan by the Bank every three years if you meet certain criteria. You can then opt out again.

Before you decide, consider the employer contributions, tax relief and other benefits that you would be giving up:

• While a State Pension may provide some income, it’s unlikely to provide you with the retirement you want.
• We’re all living longer which means our money will need to last longer too. It makes sense to start saving earlier.
• With the cost of living increasing every year, the most effective option for most people to meet their retirement goals is to contribute into a pension.
• By opting out of your workplace pension, you are giving up money from BNP Paribas that is paid in addition to your salary.

You can find out more about opting out on the MoneyHelper website.

Once enrolled, BNP Paribas will contribute a certain percentage of your salary to the Plan, and you can choose to maximise your pension savings by contributing more. In some cases, BNP Paribas will match your additional contributions. You can decide if and how much you’d like to contribute, and should think carefully about how much you may need to save to get the retirement you want.

Like most things in life, there are charges associated with your pension plan. Here’s how it works:

There are no initial charges for the funds. So, this means if you contribute £100 to your pension, £100 is invested into your chosen funds. To make sure your pension is monitored and managed, there are certain charges that apply to the funds you invest in. Charges apply to both the default investment option (the Drawdown Lifestyle) and the self-select options available.

These charges are shown as a ‘Total Expense Ratio’ (TER). They are deducted from each fund’s assets and are then reflected in the daily price for that fund. They are not a separate charge taken from your pension savings.

To find out more about your fund choices and charges, log in to PlanViewer.

There are a lot of reasons why you may need to temporarily stop or reduce your pension contributions - maternity or paternity leave, illness, a gap year or maybe you are facing critical financial pressures elsewhere. 

The good news is that you are able to press pause on your pension - but there are some things to consider before you do so, such as the long term affect on your savings.

When you’re ready to retire, you can choose what to do with your pension savings. As with all pension products, you cannot normally access your money until the minimum pension age, which is currently 55 and is due to rise to 57 on 6 April 2028, unless you have a lower protected pension age. Your plan’s default retirement age, as set up by your employer, is 65. You can view and make changes to your details in PlanViewer.