Country Reports
In-depth regular coverage and asset manager surveys on European countries and regions
Latest Country Reports
Netherlands country report 2024: Dutch pension funds distribute buffers
The arguments heat up over what to do with excess funds in Dutch pension schemes
French workplace pensions grow as reform controversy recedes
Macron’s controversial pension reforms look likely to survive, at least for now, and despite the political turmoil of the recent elections
Italy Country Report 2024: How local pensions could support the economy
The Italian pension industry and policymakers are discussing ways to channel more pension investment towards the country’s business sector
Nordic Region Report 2024: Denmark’s government urges pension funds to support defence
Danish schemes embrace defence – as long as ESG criteria and international conventions are adhered to
UK Country Report 2024: Is buyout still the gold standard for pension funds?
Improved funding positions mean more DB schemes are considering run-on rather than off-loading their liabilities
Netherlands Country Report 2024: The pension transition dilemma
Dutch pension funds must tread a fine line between protecting funding levels and ensuring sufficient returns as they move to defined contribution
Germany Country Report 2024: Unions take a more active role in pensions
Unions have a new role in determining the shape of occupational pensions but are mindful of their duty to protect workers
Ireland country report 2024: A no-nonsense consolidation approach
Ireland’s bid to reduce the number of single-member DC pension funds is succeeding but is not without teething troubles
CEE country report 2024: Poland’s auto-enrolment system - five years on
Slow but steady progress in auto enrolment is driving growth in workplace pension assets and membership
Nordic Region pensions funds report 2023: Norway's sovereign fund pivots north
Plans are afoot to set up a new base in northern Norway to manage sovereign wealth assets
Spanish pensions report 2023: funds ride a wave of uncertainty
Diversification remains a key tool in pension fund portfolios
Switzerland pensions report 2023: funds consider next move with UBS and Credit Suisse
Fears of market concentration in asset management and custody services are leading Swiss Pensionskassen to rethink relations with the enlarged UBS
Netherlands pensions report 2023: Dutch funds plot move back into active investing
Several large Dutch pension funds are planning to move back into active management while others choose to go passive and further tweak their indices. But these two trends are not as contradictory as they may seem
Pensions in France - IPE Country Report
Fierce opposition from trade unions and a large part of the political spectrum did not manage to stop Emmanuel Macron’s plan to reform the French pension system. The new framework kicks in this month, and the long-term sustainability of public pensions is secure. However, French workers will have to work longer into their lives, and their standard of living will decline.
Country report – Pensions in Italy (July/August 2023)
Italian second-pillar occupational pension funds continue on their path to diversification. Owing to the higher yields on offer in traditional fixed income markets, allocations to private markets may slow down temporarily, but funds have made long-term strategic commitments. A variety of industry initiatives is facilitating investment in private equity, private debt and infrastructure. Meanwhile, some pension funds are consolidating their private markets portfolios.
Country report – Pensions in Nordic Region (June 2023)
Reputational issues are front of mind for the board of Alecta, Sweden’s largest pension fund, as it continues to digest the fallout from its ill-starred investments in Silicon Valley Bank and two other US financial institutions that collapsed in March this year.
Country Report – Pensions in UK (May 2023)
UK pensions are at a crucial juncture. The UK Parliament’s inquiry into the LDI crisis of September 2022 shed some light on its causes, but the debate on the role of LDI is alive and well. Meanwhile, regulators including The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority have advised pension schemes on how to make LDI strategies more resilient to shocks.
Country Report – Pensions in the Netherlands (April 2023)
The Netherlands is in the final legislative stages of what will probably be the largest and most complex workplace pension system change ever in the world. Yet as it edges towards the parliamentary finishing line, recent political events could yet knock the process off course.
Country Report – Pensions in Germany (March 2023)
Angela Merkel’s governments largely dodged the political hot potato of first-pillar pension reform, which means the current overhaul to the state system is overdue. But it barely gets to grips with the issues. For one, it does not deal with entitlements or increase the retirement age; second it introduces a funded component that will probably only take effect in the 2030s, when the post-war demographic peak is passing.
Country Report – Ireland (February 2023)
Ireland is preparing an Auto Enrolment Bill, which will kick-start the process of defined contribution pension reform in earnest, some 15 years after the concept was first mooted. The plan is for a Central Processing Authority to administer the system and for up to four providers to tender for a chance to manage member contributions.
Country Report – Pensions in Central & Eastern Europe (January 2023)
Poland’s PPK auto-enrolment system marks its fourth anniversary this month. It can hardly be described as a complete success given the participation rate is stuck at just over a third of the working population. Some initial projections foresaw a 70% takeup level. But with assets approaching €2.5bn and rapidly growing, there is a sense that this is a relatively good outcome for a country with no tradition of independent retirement saving and where the previous second pillar system was radically overhauled just a few years ago, leaving ordinary citizens confused and mistrustful.
Country Report – Pensions in the Nordic Region (December 2022)
Nordic pension funds are getting to grips with biodiversity and natural capital in their investment portfolios, seeking to measure both the impact of companies they invest in and ways they can limit adverse effects on nature. Like other investors globally, many are just at the early stages of thinking about this - how they measure biodiversity, which metrics and approaches are gaining acceptance, and how best to report to stakeholders.
Country Report – Pensions in Spain & Portugal (November 2022)
In Spain, the pension sector is giving a cautious thumbs up to workplace pension reform plans, even if they fall short of the industry’s wish list. Top of that list was mandatory auto-enrolment, which won’t now happen. But the planned national so-called Macro-fondo ‘super fund’ has met with general approval. It will be managed by the private sector but supervised by a control committee comprising government, employer and union representatives.
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