Spain & Portugal: Pensions and Investment News and Analysis

Promising reforms to occupational pensions in Spain remain on the starting blocks as the political focus of the current governing Socialist Workers Party appears to lie elsewhere following a corruption scandal and a challenge from the populist right. Wide-ranging reforms last year included a simplified multi employer pensions scheme (PPES) that can also be used by the self employed. So far only one PPES plan has been set up, by the insurer Vida Caixa. Another occupational pension vehicle, the FPEPP, has failed to get off the ground at all. Low fees of 40bps appear to have made the FPEPP unpalatable for providers.

With one of the highest rates of population ageing in the EU, pensions reform should arguably be a higher priority that it currently is in Portugal. Over a third of the working population is over 50, up from a quarter in 2011. The current government of Luis Montenegro and his centre-right Democratic Alliance has vowed to increase pensions