A previous manager of the old private system, the Retirement and Pension Fund Administrator (AFJP), has been named as the new Executive Director of the National Social Security Administration (Anses).
The new director is Mariano of the Heroes, a lawyer from the traditional Buenos Aires agricultural town of Flowers. Being 57 years old, he will handle retirements, pensions, family allowances, Universal Child Allowance (AUH), social security funds for provinces, and potentially design a pension reform.
Mariano Antonio Salvador de los Heros Battini, his full name, is taking over from Osvaldo Giordano, who was dismissed by the Government following the failure of the “omnibus law” project.
An overview of the new Anses director’s professional profile
De los Heros has a lengthy public sector career, starting in 1991 as an advisor to the National Bank’s Board of Directors, as stated on his Linkedin profile.
He graduated from the Argentine Catholic University (UCA) and later served as the general manager of Anses from November 2000 to March 2001. He was also the general manager of AFJP Nation from 1994 to 2002 during the private retirement system.
His primary declared economic activity is cattle breeding, excluding milk production. He also grows rice, wheat, and other cereals and offers real estate services for rural assets and business management and direction consultancy.
During Mauricio Macri’s early presidency, De los Heros managed Delegations and Articulation of the Health System Members under the Superintendence of Health Services.
Those who have worked with him describe him as a competent and honest professional.
He served as Pension Manager Director of the Unified Provincial Autonomous Institute of Social Security and then Secretary of the Treasury in Land of Fire from 2004 to 2006, where he sought to modernize the system.
Insight into the Argentine pension system
De los Heros’ initial task in a government that admires Carlos Menem’s economic reforms and privatizations in the ’90s would be to stabilize the system. Starting in March, a minimum of $204,445.30 will be paid to retirees, accounting for the minimum asset update according to the formula and the $70,000 bonus to be paid over three months.
This represents a 27.18% increase from the values since December, indicating a near 33% real drop in the salaries of those earning the minimum in March, adjusted for inflation.
Social security benefits account for over 40% of the national State’s annual public expenditure. In January of this year, they reached 48.7%, compared to 53.6% in January 2023, with a real adjustment of 36.4% in this line.
In Anses specifically, spending increased to $1.2 billion, representing a real-term reduction of 38.6%.
An internal report updated until the third quarter of 2023 shows that Anses had to serve 7,122,480 beneficiaries, including retirees and pensions. It also catered to another 1,910,311 benefits, including non-contributory pensions, former political prisoners, and former Malvinas War combatants; it also provided monetary protection with 67,527 unemployment insurance. In addition, it was responsible for paying 4,120,641 Universal Child Allowances (AUH).
