A delegation led by the Czech Republic ambassador to the United Nations visited Boston late last year to study the operations of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Retirement Fund as a model of how to establish and manage a privately run pension fund.
Karel Kovanda, the nation's first permanent representative at the United Nations, met Dec. 2 with a group of Boston area leaders, including officials of the MBTA fund and the Boston Co., to discuss developments in the Czech Republic, which licensed private pension funds in October. The meeting followed a visit by Czech officials last May, in which the Boston Co. conducted a case study of the MBTA Retirement Fund.
The Boston Co. has international banking ties to the country. The firm also is one of the investment managers of the MBTA fund.
The Czech Republic is forming its first private pension plans since the end of the Cold War. So far, 33 plans have been established.
Jack Gallahue Jr., the MBTA fund's executive director, explained the operation of the plan through an interpreter.
