While accepting the matter was sensitive, as it could be regarded as social policy outside the European Commission’s remit, Jung-Duk Lichtenberger of the Directorate General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA) said some of the funded statutory pensions were no different from private pension providers within the third pillar. He said that, as privately owned financial institutions, there could be benefits to a “common approach”, allowing firms to access the European single market.
Lichtenberger said it was not only an issue for CEE nations but also Nordic countries and Southern European member states. Lichtenberger stressed that the Commission was not so far intending to include any new rules within forthcoming private pension proposals, but only asking EIOPA to raise the question: “What we do want is try to see if financial regulation can help to make these funded tiers more efficient. Because I think there’s been an issue. In some countries, these systems have underperformed in terms of investment returns for many years, with negative investment returns. I don’t think this is a good service to the citizens,” he added
Justin Wray, head of policy at EIOPA, questioned last year why first pillar funds with similarities to third pillar systems were exempt from disclosure requirements.
PensionsEurope secretary general Matti Leppälä said the three-month call for consultation would be published by EIOPA in July, with the supervisor aiming to submit advice to the Commission by February 2016. Leppälä said the consultation would likely look at matters including a member’s ability to select the manager behind a 1-bis scheme, if the manager was a for-profit or non-profit entity and owned the assets under management.
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