November 2025
20Nov

EU. Commission proposes to boost supplementary pensions to help ensure adequate retirement income

The European Commission has today adopted a package of measures to help citizens secure adequate income in retirement by improving access to better and more effective supplementary pensions. The proposed actions aim to complement - not replace - public pensions, which are the foundation of pension systems in all Member States. Today's package forms part of the Commission's Savings and Investments Union (SIU) Strategy which seeks to create more opportunities for households to build their wealth through capital markets, while...

November 20, 2025
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07Nov

The real obstacle to EU capital market integration is unreformed pension systems

A pension system crisis is looming in the European Union. As their populations age, EU countries must address their often alarmingly high levels of unfunded public pension liabilities, which typically vastly exceed countries’ gross public debt levels (Figure 1). These liabilities are calculated from current life expectancies, effective retirement ages and pension benefit levels. Many, if not all, EU governments will in the coming years have to change these pension system provisions and renege on earlier promises made to...

November 7, 2025
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04Nov

Las reformas de pensiones y SIA podrían representar una solución win-win para la deuda, la riqueza de los hogares y los mercados de capital en la UE

El envejecimiento de la población y las bajas tasas de natalidad están poniendo presión sobre el modelo de pensiones europeo que depende en gran medida del Estado. En Italia, Alemania, Francia y España … las pensiones públicas representan más del 70% de los ingresos de los jubilados frente a aproximadamente el 40% en Reino Unido y EEUU. Además, los países enfrentan problemas cada vez más grandes en cuanto a la sostenibilidad de la deuda y la UE necesita aproximadamente 1 Bn€ de...

November 4, 2025
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October 2025
03Oct

Venture & growth capital in Europe – mapping pension funds’ attitudes

By Pensions For Purpose Across Europe, pension funds manage over €3tn in assets, yet only roughly 0.12% is allocated to venture and growth capital (VC). Meanwhile, VC investment in Europe totalled €15bn in 2023. These numbers together highlight two persistent questions: can allocation to VC be compatible with the fiduciary duties of pension funds? If so, why has the historical aggregated allocation of pension funds to this asset class been so modest? To address these questions, we embarked on a journey...

October 3, 2025
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September 2025
09Sep

Germany. Demographics hit pension systems with full force

Bolstering the still underdeveloped second and third pillars of retirement provision is unavoidable. Expanding occupational and private pensions via pension funds and insurers would not only help shrink – or even close – the private savings gap, but also ease the strain on public budgets by stabilising or even reducing transfers to the state pension system. And not least, it would mobilise additional capital for investment through contribution funds channelled into capital markets. Lack of ambition The new CDU/CSU/SPD coalition government,...

September 9, 2025
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August 2025
29Aug

EU labour market – quarterly statistics

By European Union In Q1 2025, 197.9 million persons in the EU were employed. The EU seasonally adjusted employment rate for people aged 20-64 years stood at 76.1%, up from 76.0% in Q4 2024 as shown in Figure 1. For the same period, the seasonally adjusted total labour market slack in the EU, which is the unmet need for work, amounted to 23.6 million persons, which represented 10.9% of the extended labour force in Q1 2025, up from 10.8% in Q4 2024. Regarding its main component,...

August 29, 2025
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July 2025
11Jul

Eiopa calls for stricter supervision of liquidity risk at pension funds

The EU pensions regulator has issued binding guidance requiring national supervisors to oversee liquidity risk at institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs) more closely, citing margin call risks, asset fire sales and the need for proportionate stress testing and liquidity buffers. The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa) concluded that better supervision of liquidity risk management across institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs) was necessary to preserve financial system stability and ensure pension schemes could meet their obligations. In...

July 11, 2025
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02Jul

ESG round-up: Investors call for EU to preserve key parts of sustainable finance rules

More than 80 investors and financial institutions have called on the EU to preserve the core of the EU Sustainable Finance Framework. Key European investors supporting the statement include Allianz SE, First Sentier Investors, La Banque Postale AM, Nordea, PKA and Storebrand AM. The signatories stated that regulatory simplification can be achieved without compromising on the substance of sustainability rules or their significant benefits for businesses across the EU. They have recommended that the European Sustainability Reporting Standards – which...

July 2, 2025
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June 2025
06Jun

PensionsEurope’s Position Paper on the European Commission’s Omnibus Simplification Proposal

By Pension Europe PensionsEurope welcomes the European Commission (EC) initiative which aims to align crucial EU legislation concerning Sustainable Finance. PensionsEurope firmly believes that the competitiveness of the EU economy is vital, it is possible to reduce the administrative burden without undermining the EU's policy objectives regarding the green transition. However, any simplification should be carefully balanced to ensure that material sustainability information on risks, opportunities, and impacts-critical to informed investor decision-making-is preserved. Accordingly, the Omnibus package should aim to streamline...

June 6, 2025
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May 2025
29May

EU. Hundreds of ESG funds renamed as ESMA guidelines kick in

Nearly 700 investment funds have had their names changed to avoid falling foul of new sustainability rules from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). NGOs Finanzwende, Urgewald and Facing Finance have found that 674 funds were rebranded to stay on the right side of the EU supervisor’s fund-naming guidelines, which came into force fully last week. The rules require funds that use language associated with six themes (transition, environment, social, governance, impact and sustainability) to invest at least 80% of their...

May 29, 2025
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