July 2017

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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June 2017

29Jun

EU pension’ planned for people who move between countries

A new “EU pension” will be introduced to aid people who move around the continent under proposals from the European commission. The EU-branded product will allow workers hopping from country to country to save seamlessly into one pot. To make the EU pensions more attractive to savers, Brussels will recommend national governments give the pan-European product the most favourable tax treatment they are able to provide. It had been hoped that the tax treatment of pensions could be harmonised as part of...

June 29, 2017
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27Jun

95% of European pension funds ignore climate change impact: Mercer

According to the European Asset Allocation Report, published by fund administration and research experts Mercer, despite a slight improvement since 2016, the vast majority of responding funds are “still not active” on climate issues. With NASA stating that April 2017 was the second hottest since records began in 1880 (with 2016 the hottest), Mercer’s recent report has found that only 5% of 1,241 European pensions schemes have considered the investment risk posed by climate change. As a result the consultancy has...

June 27, 2017
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21Jun

Europe’s Insurers, Pension Cos. Still Face Risk, EIOPA Says

The macroeconomic environment remains fragile for Europe’s insurers and occupational pensions companies despite signs of improvement in the last six months, the European Union’s top insurance regulator said on Tuesday. The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority said in a financial stability report that both sectors face challenges, partly due to uncertainty caused by national elections and the U.K.’s Brexit negotiations, which began in Brussels on Monday. The industries also face obstacles due to the growing risk of terrorism and cyberattack,...

June 21, 2017
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19Jun

Europe-wide private pension plan is set to hit the market – but it must protect consumers, says Insurance Europe

The commission began consultations last year on its Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP), which is intended to act as an additional income alongside public or workplace pensions. But industry trade body Insurance Europe has noted today that, unless done properly, the move to encourage more people to take out private pensions could end badly. “Insurance Europe welcomes the project of a Pan-European Personal Pension Product as a way to increase both the share of the population with private pensions and the...

June 19, 2017
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13Jun

EU. Private pensions risk bigger gender pension gap

The gender pension gap could be getting wider due to the increasing importance of private (complementary) pension schemes, and their failure to credit women for periods of maternity and parental leave (or other types of care leave). The difference in pension payments for men and women across the EU is 40%, according to the most recent study which was carried out four years ago (in 2013). A survey of 44 trade unions in 29 countries published today by the European Trade...

June 13, 2017
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09Jun

EU. Commission struggles with tax exemptions in EU-wide pension proposal

As part of the capital markets union mid-term review, the Commission announced it would submit a legislative proposal on a pan-European personal pension product by the end of this month. Dombrovskis told a group of journalists that the intention is to create a framework to enable providers to offer their pension schemes to customers across Europe. The goal is to correct the “unevenness” of the European market in this field, address the difficulties to switch between products and to facilitate the...

June 9, 2017
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07Jun

EU. Women at risk of poverty in retirement

Irish women typically retire on incomes that are more than 30 per cent lower than their male counterparts, a new report from Mercer reveals, as it calls on governments, policy-makers and employers to respond to the “urgent challenge” the pensions gap poses. According to the report, half of European Union states, including Ireland, have pension gaps of 30 per cent or more, while the EU average is 40 per cent. The gap means that a retired woman living in the EU...

June 7, 2017
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