October 2025
07Oct

UK. Six key challenges for the revived Pensions Commission

Aon has warned that the government’s revived Pensions Commission will face major structural hurdles if it hopes to deliver meaningful reform to the UK’s pension system. In a new paper exploring the aims of the Pensions Commission, Matthew Arends, head of UK retirement policy at Aon, argued that the commission’s narrow remit may stop it from addressing the root causes of poor retirement adequacy. He warned that by being instructed to “build on the foundation of the state pension” rather than...

October 7, 2025
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06Oct

UK. How pension reform is reshaping retirement income

The UK’s retirement market stands once again at the brink of profound change. The FCA’s December 2024 consultation paper – creatively titled CP24/27: Advice Guidance Boundary Review: Proposed Targeted Support Reforms for Pensions – paired with the upcoming Pensions Schemes Bill 2025, represents a regulatory double act poised to transform how retirement income solutions are delivered. This approach represents a critical evolution beyond existing Pension Freedoms (2015) legislation, where retirees frequently struggled with overwhelming choice, leading to premature withdrawals or complete indecision. Guided...

October 6, 2025
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September 2025
22Sep

Germany proposes a solution to the pension crisis: a monthly ‘salary’ for children aged 6 and over

“The welfare state we have today is no longer financially sustainable,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated at a CDU event at the end of August. His remarks follow the government’s agreement to push through a reform of the pension system, aimed at containing the deficit. To address this, Merz proposed incentivizing private savings from an early age as a potential solution. The “Early Start Pension” initiative suggests that children aged six to 18 attending school would receive €10 per month from the German government, which would...

September 22, 2025
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17Sep

Balancing sustainability and social welfare: The controversial 2025 ‘pension age’ reform in Mauritius

The government of Mauritius has amended the National Pensions Act 1976 through Section 39 of the Finance Act 2025 to address rising national debt and ensure the long-term sustainability of the Basic Retirement Pension (BRP). The reform introduces a new definition of 'pension age,' gradually increasing the eligibility age for the BRP from 60 to 65 years over a ten-year period, starting from September 2026. The Income Tax Act has been amended to provide income support to individuals...

September 17, 2025
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15Sep

More than half of UK adults unaware of key pension policy changes

More than half of UK adults (51 per cent) are unaware of upcoming pension policy changes that could have a major impact on their retirement plans, according to new research from Schroders Personal Wealth (SPW). The 2025 SPW Retirement Report, based on a survey of 1,500 UK adults, revealed significant knowledge gaps around shifting pension rules and wider financial planning, with many people still working on assumptions that may no longer hold true. For example, despite 29 per cent of respondents saying...

September 15, 2025
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01Sep

A “major trouble” of €2 trillion! Is the pension reform in the Netherlands about to ignite the European bond market?

The Zhito Finance APP has learned that a transformation nearing €2 trillion (approximately $2.3 trillion) is sweeping across the European bond market, adding further turbulence to the already unpredictable year of 2025—tariff upheavals, concerns over deficits, and a political crisis in France are all unfolding, and now the reform of the Dutch pension system has become the new eye of the storm. As the largest pension market in the European Union, this long-anticipated reform in the Netherlands has driven up...

September 1, 2025
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August 2025
29Aug

Modeling pension reform: The World Bank’s pension reform options simulation toolkit

By World Bank Group Today's pension policies can affect retirement incomes and the public finances for decades to come. Retirement income systems that are affordable today, will often prove unsustainable in the future, given the twin pressures of demographic aging and the maturing of pension schemes. The World Bank's pension reform options simulation toolkit (PROST) models pension contributions, entitlements, system revenues, and system expenditures over a long time frame. The model is designed to promote informed policymaking, bridging the gap between...

August 29, 2025
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28Aug

1 in 5 Europeans will retire in poverty without urgent reform, EU watchdog warns

Poverty in old age will be the norm for a large chunk of Europe's population unless current retirement policies undergo deep reform, the EU's workplace pensions regulator has warned. "One in five Europeans is already at risk of living in poverty at old age," said Petra Hielkema, chief of the Frankfurt-based European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority. "[That's] a ridiculously high percentage, frankly. And if you then look at women, they have a 30 percent larger risk for that," she told...

August 28, 2025
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14Aug

Romania proposes pension reforms as it moves to join OECD

Romanians will be limited to withdrawing a quarter of their private pension funds upon retirement and will receive the rest in monthly payments under a draft reform of the system unveiled on Friday that aims to boost the country's OECD candidacy. The EU member state overhauled its communist-era pension system in 2008, making it compulsory for working Romanians under 35 to contribute to a so-called "second pillar" of private pension schemes in addition to their state pension. Under the scheme, more...

August 14, 2025
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13Aug

Bulgaria’s Pension System Faces Challenges Ahead of Eurozone Entry in 2026

Bulgaria’s pension system stands at a critical juncture as the country prepares to join the Eurozone in 2026. This transition will bring pensions denominated in euros instead of leva, prompting questions about the system’s future stability amid demographic shifts and budgetary pressures. Our analysis explores the structure of Bulgaria’s pension scheme, current challenges, and projections looking ahead to 2070. The Bulgarian pension system consists of three pillars. The first pillar is the state social security system, funded through the pay-as-you-go...

August 13, 2025
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