November 2017

23Nov

Pan-European pension schemes – a way to close the pension gap

Europe is getting old. Ageing population is a luxury good hardly any country can afford. It has been one of the main policy challenges in the Union. Increasing old-age dependency ratio will widen the pension gap and make current pension systems unsustainable. Over the past decades, politicians have been in a rambling quest to close the gap. Their confidence in finding a solution must have been restored after the Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis announced the so-called pan-European Personal Pension...

November 23, 2017
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October 2017

20Oct

ESMA Receives Mandate on Fund Performance from European Commission

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has received a mandate from the European Commission (EC) requesting the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) – the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) and ESMA – to issue recurrent reports on the cost and past performance of the main categories of retail investment, insurance and pension products. The request supports the action, included in the EC’s Mid Term Review of the Capital Markets Union of 8 June 2017, on...

October 20, 2017
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08Oct

Occupational Pension Funds (IORPs) & Sustainability: What Does the Prudent Person Principle Say?

By Alexandra Horvathova, Rasmus Kristian Feldthusen & Vibe Ulfbeck (University of Copenhagen) The European Union encourages individuals to save in private and occupational pension funds to complement their state saving-plans. Throughout their lives, employers directly sponsor occupational retirement saving plans, so individual employees may top up their future pensions. While the European Union clearly supports the formation and cross-border participation in these financial vehicles by adopting regulatory framework, the EU has also decided to determine a common investment decision standard...

October 8, 2017
Aging, Articles, Pension design, Regulation, , ,
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08Oct

Occupational Pension Funds (IORPs) & Sustainability: What Does the Prudent Person Principle Say?

By Alexandra Horvathova, Rasmus Kristian Feldthusen & Vibe Ulfbeck (University of Copenhagen) The European Union encourages individuals to save in private and occupational pension funds to complement their state saving-plans. Throughout their lives, employers directly sponsor occupational retirement saving plans, so individual employees may top up their future pensions. While the European Union clearly supports the formation and cross-border participation in these financial vehicles by adopting regulatory framework, the EU has also decided to determine a common investment decision standard...

October 8, 2017
Aging, Articles, Pension design, Regulation, , ,
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September 2017

19Sep

APG and E Fund Management will launch the world’s first China Sustainable and Responsible Focus Investment Strategy

APG, the largest European pension asset manager and administrator, together with E Fund, the third largest fund manager in China, announced today that it will launch the first concentrated equities strategy that invests in ChinaA-shares and adheres to sustainable & responsible investing frameworks and criteria. "APG is a firm believer and promoter of responsible investing. We are happy to partner with E Fund to establish this milestone to embrace our role and duty as responsible long term asset manager, for the benefit of our clients....

September 19, 2017
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August 2017

08Aug

EU expresses worry over Poland reviving different retirement age for men and women

The EU's executive arm, the European Commission, is concerned that reintroducing a different retirement age for men and women in Poland could violate the bloc's equality rules, according to a letter from Brussels to Warsaw seen by Reuters. Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and President Andrzej Duda - who comes from the same political grouping - campaigned on promises to undo a 2012 reform that had been gradually raising and equalising the retirement age at 67. The government's change,...

August 8, 2017
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July 2017

27Jul

EU. Rapid ageing could keep ECB’s hand tied for next decade: ECB paper

The rapid ageing of Europe's population may keep interest rates depressed over the next decade, potentially limiting the European Central Bank's ability to adjust policy, a research paper published by the ECB on Wednesday showed. The expected rise in the share of people not working will hold back growth and limit investment, making it necessary for governments to encourage later retirement, and to promote innovation and investment, the researchers said in a paper that does not necessarily represent the ECB's...

July 27, 2017
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27Jul

EU. ECB asks pension funds for more data

The European Central Bank will require euro zone pension funds to disclose more detailed data on their operations, arguing that it lacks proper visibility in a huge sector that is vital for the transmission of monetary policy, it said on Wednesday. With 50 million customers and 2.5 trillion euros ($2.9 trillion) in assets, pension funds are among the biggest and fastest-growing investors. That makes them vital for the ECB in gauging the success of its policy, particularly in a period of...

July 27, 2017
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19Jul

EU Commission concerned about living standards for future generations

Despite the better economic news, the risk remains that the younger generations will have less well than their parents, finds the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs Marianne Thyssen. Presenting the Annual report on employment and social developments in Europe on Monday, Thyssen presented the situation on the European labor market, a decade after the outbreak of the financial crisis. EU’s labor market looks rosy again, while the unemployment rate is the lowest since December 2008 and employment has never...

July 19, 2017
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11Jul

243 Million Reasons For A New Pan-European Personal Pension Product

It is estimated that only around 28% of the EU’s 243 million citizens aged 25 to 59 years are currently saving into a pension. The European Commission considers that offering an alternative form of pensions vehicle will drive a change in behaviour. To this end, on 29 June, the European Commission proposed Regulations setting out a framework for a bold new pan-European personal pension product (PEPP). This emerges as part of the EU’s 2015 Action Plan on Building a...

July 11, 2017
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