PensionsEurope publishes position paper on the negative effects of the financial transaction tax on pension provision

04 December 2015

PensionsEurope welcomes the EU institutions’ commitment to get Europe growing again, foster investments and create jobs. It supports the Capital Markets Union initiative. PensionsEurope however feels that the Financial Transaction Tax will be contra-productive in this respect.

The FTT is widely known as a tax on financial services. That is a misapprehension – it actually is a tax on savings and retirement incomes. The FTT will ultimately be paid by pension funds’ members and beneficiaries. The FTT would penalise the substantial transaction volumes of pension funds which are a result of the size of their assets under management, the need to match assets and liabilities and to mitigate risks, and not as a result of excessive search for return or risk-taking.

PensionsEurope call on the 11 Member States participating in the enhanced cooperation on the FTT to withdraw the initiative. Pension funds would at least need to be exempt in case that the withdrawal of the FTT proposal will prove to be unfeasible.

Full paper

© PensionsEurope