/ New Pension Fund Investment Regime: Restrictions and Aggregate Caps on Underlying Fund Fees

On March 4, 2026, the Chilean Pensions Regulator (Superintendencia de Pensiones – SP) issued Exempt Resolution No. 368, which approves a new version of the Pension Fund Investment Regime (the “Regime”) published and applicable from April 2026.

Felipe Cousiño Prieto
Partner

Francisca Donoso Fernández
Senior Associate

The updated Regime, applicable as from April 2026, introduces the following key changes:

1. New Section V: Underlying Fees

The incorporation of a new Section V titled “Underlying Fees”, implements the new seventh and ninth paragraphs of Article 45 bis of Decree Law No. 3,500 (DL 3,500), as amended by the Pension Reform, and is divided into two subsections:

1.1. Section V.1 — Restrictions on the Payment of Underlying Fees (effective April 1, 2026)

A general prohibition is established on paying fees—charged to pension funds—to investment vehicles or managers that invest more than 10% in:

• Certain domestic instruments listed in letters b), c), d), e), f), g), h), i), and ñ) of Article 45 of DL 3,500, namely: time deposits; bonds and securities representing deposits issued by financial institutions; guaranteed securities and mortgage bonds; bonds of public and private companies, including convertible bonds; shares of publicly traded corporations; domestic mutual fund and investment fund shares regulated; commercial paper; and bonds issued by investment funds.
• Instruments issued by the Chilean Central Bank or the Chilean General Treasury of the Republic.
• Foreign instruments under letter j) of Article 45 of DL 3,500 (e.g. foreign mutual funds and ETFs) that, in turn, invest more than 10% in the domestic instruments and issuers referred to above.

The Regime establishes two exceptions to this prohibition:

• Low or medium capitalization issuers: Investment vehicles are exempt if they invest primarily—at least 80% of their assets—in domestic issuers of low or medium capitalization, defined as those that (i) are not constituents of the Chilean selective stock price index (S&P IPSA) and (ii) whose equity does not exceed that of the company with the lowest market capitalization within the high capitalization general stock price index (S&P/CLX IGPA LargeCap), based on the most recent audited financial statements.
• Regional or global vehicles with limited Chile exposure: Domestic or foreign vehicles with a regional or global investment focus are also exempt if their exposure in Chile to the instruments mentioned above is less than 15%, based on the last portfolio reported to the SP.

1.2. Section V.2 — Aggregate Caps for Underlying Fees (effective November 1, 2026)

The total underlying fees charged to pension funds through investment vehicles or managers may not exceed the following annual caps, expressed as a percentage of each fund’s value. Any excess over these caps will be borne exclusively by the AFP:

The calculation methodology and applicable criteria will be established according to the instructions issued by the SP through a general rule. These caps will apply from November 1, 2026.

These rates are in fact higher than the original proposal and are intended to be at levels that would enable AFPs to adjust their portfolios with certain flexibility.

Indeed, these limits appear to compare favorably to the current approximate blended aggregate underlying fee load across pension fund types. According to research performed by ACAFI on January 2025 (Fernández, Comparación internacional de los costos de inversión y uso de administradores externos en los fondos de pensiones, Enero 2025), “the pension funds managers (AFPs) paid an annual total […], amounting to US$508 million, equivalent to 0.28% of the total assets under management”. The same study provides the following breakdown of current effective underlying fees by pension fund type as of June 2024 (p. 2):

1. Fund A: 0.43%
2. Fund B: 0.35%
3. Fund C: 0.29%
4. Fund D: 0.15%
5. Fund E: 0.09%

For additional context, the ACAFI study also details how these fees are composed. As of June 2024, 56% of delegated management fees were paid to foreign investment funds and ETFs, 31% to foreign private equity and private debt vehicles, and 13% to domestic investment funds.

The SP has also noted that these levels were designed considering a potential increase in alternative asset allocations through early 2027, which is a positive indication that the regulator is not seeking to restrict investments in private funds.

For further information, including access to the full text of the Pension Fund Investment Regime, please click here.