In a television interview, the Dominican Republic's Pensions Superintendency (SIPEN) set out its assessment of the Dominican pension system, with Superintendent Francisco A. Torres arguing that the contribution rate should be progressively increased and that solutions are needed for cohorts that entered the system at an older age and may not accumulate sufficient contribution years. Torres linked low pension outcomes mainly to short contribution histories given the system has been in place for 22 years, stating that no participant has yet reached 25 years of contributions for the guarantee, nor 360 contribution payments. He described the protection mechanism for those completing 25 years of contributions as a lifetime pension indexed to inflation every two years and currently around DOP 17,000, which he said represents 100% wage replacement for about 30% of contributors earning below that level and around 70% for another 50% of affiliates. On safeguarding pension savings, he said supervision and audit occur daily, including cross-checking investment information via CEVALDOM, and that affiliate assets are autonomous and fully segregated from AFP finances; he also reported that more than half of account balances over the past 20 years have come from investment returns and that more than 17% of the portfolio is invested in the Dominican real economy, including free zones, hotels and infrastructure such as toll roads and energy plants.