January 2019

31Jan

Brexit Preparedness: European Commission adopts final set of “no-deal” contingency measures for social security coordination rules

Given the increasing risk that the United Kingdom may leave the EU on 30 March this year without a deal (a “no-deal” scenario), the European Commission has today adopted a final set of contingency proposals in the area of the Erasmus+ programme, social security coordination and the EU budget. This follows the calls by the European Council (Article 50) in November and December 2018 to intensify preparedness work at all levels, and the adoption on 19 December 2018 of...

January 31, 2019
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11Jan

EIOPA analyses costs and past performance of insurance and pension products

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published today its first Report on Costs and Past Performance of insurance and pension products following a request of the European Commission to the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) to periodically report on costs and past performance of retail investment, insurance and pension products. This first report provides aggregate data on the costs of insurance-based investment products (IBIPs) across the European Union as well as for certain similar personal pension products (PPPs)...

January 11, 2019
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December 2018

10Dec

Financing decent pensions: a challenge for European states

Some 70,000 people took to the streets of Brussels on 28 May 2018. And tens of thousands demonstrated once again in several Belgian cities on 2 October. The trade union mobilisation against the reform of the pension system in Belgium attracted nationwide attention. But this protest movement did not emerge from nowhere. It is, rather, the culmination of many years of discontent. The federal government undertook to reform the entire pension system, to cope with Belgium’s ever-ageing population, from the...

December 10, 2018
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07Dec

Brits living in the EU risk having their pensions frozen

Britons living in the EU, who qualify for a state pensions uprate, could lose the guarantee after disorderly Brexit. The British government has today outlined the ways how it intends to protect rights of its citizens living in the EU in the case of “no-deal Brexit.” As one of the protections, the Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay pledged to keep uprating state pensions of UK nationals living in the EU – but only if the EU reciprocates. If the EU as a bloc...

December 7, 2018
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May 2018

23May

Investors may be deterred by shortcomings fighting corruption – EU

Governance shortcomings in the anticorruption framework may adversely affect the business climate and weigh negatively on investment, the European Commission said on Wednesday. “The effectiveness of Malta’s efforts to fight corruption needs to be further improved, especially with regards to the investigation and prosecution of corruption,” it warned in the country specific recommendations for the 2018 European Semester. Apart from updating from various previous reports, two specific recommendations were made: - Strengthen the overall governance framework by enhancing the national supervision of...

May 23, 2018
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January 2018

09Jan

EU Lawmakers Mull State Variances For Blocwide Pensions

The European Parliament has published proposals for a new regulation on a blocwide personal pensions regime aimed at promoting competition and allowing customers to move their retirement investments across the EU. The European Council and the European Parliament's committee on economic and monetary affairs delivered their recommendations for a proposed pan-European pension product in a working paper on Monday. The voluntary retirement product, known as PEPP, is intended to broaden consumer choice and offer a pension solution for EU citizens...

January 9, 2018
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December 2017

21Dec

EU watchdog says insurance sector well capitalised despite risks

The European Union’s insurance sector is well capitalised despite challenges such as low interest rates and the disasters that have hit reinsurers, the bloc’s insurance and pension watchdog said on Wednesday. The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), in a financial stability report, said that in addition to low rates, low market volatility and high levels of economic and political uncertainty were major challenges to the industry. “Despite these challenges, the insurance sector remains well capitalised”, EIOPA said, noting that...

December 21, 2017
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14Dec

EU pensions have insufficient assets to cover liabilities – Watchdog

European Union pension providers on the whole do not have enough assets to cover their liabilities, the European Union’s insurance and pension watchdog said on Wednesday. The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published aggregated results of this year’s stress test of 195 institutions that provide pensions. The results showed shortfalls of between 349 billion euros ($411 billion) and 702 billion euros, levels that could harm the real economy, EIOPA said. Source: Reuters

December 14, 2017
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07Dec

EU. EIOPA speaks on insurance and pensions

The Chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), Gabriel Bernardino, delivered a speech at EIOPA’s 7th annual conference on Insurance and Pensions Reloaded: A Game Changer. The speech covered the following four themes that cross over EIOPA’s main strategic priorities: Maintaining sound regulation in an evolving landscape – this included a discussion on the development of the proposed regulation on the Pan-European Personal Pension Product. Supervisory convergence and the building up of a common European – Mr Bernardino referred to the publication of...

December 7, 2017
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07Dec

UK will not pay lump sum Brexit bill, according to draft agreement

The U.K. will pay no upfront Brexit divorce bill to the European Union but will instead continue to act “as if [it] remained a member state” by meeting its ongoing liabilities as and when they arise for decades to come, according to a draft text of a joint agreement with the EU. The clause forms part of a proposed draft agreement between London and Brussels that was circulated among U.K. officials Monday, the contents of which have been shared with...

December 7, 2017
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