We were privileged to attend the EU & UK Private Pensions conference yesterday at the EU Delegation to the UK, Europe House, London.
Key points :
UK and the EU both need to invest for Prosperity as well as Defence.
Sweden is heralded as a leading example of national pension provision.
Some other take away points :
1. UK and EU pensions assets as a % GDP are way behind the USA.
2. The UK pensions market is very fragmented.
3. The majority of EU countries have far more assets in insurance funds, rather than pension funds.
4. EU households save a lot with €12 trillion in bank deposits but much less is saved in pensions.
5. Lots of UK reforms going on but if we are in a hurry we should simply look at Sweden.
6. Although there are barriers to UK long term investments, even if consolidation happens, it needs to be easier for investments to be made. UK planning decision for infrastructure projects can take a long time which makes investment difficult.
There were also big concerns of lack of engagement by people on pensions. Defaults are really important- people want it done for them. Significant legislatory barriers make provision of good communication and effective advice hard, especially compared to the ease in which people can invest in un-regulatory investments as seen on the internet.
Developing Financial Literacy especially amongst lower pay workers in order to lower this gap. Sweden’s 30 year excellent pension provision and it’s foresight of DB and DC pensions was lauded as an example to follow.
Thank you to all the organisers and speakers who made this happen:
William Wright Maximilian Bierbaum Tilman Lueder Tessa Page Lesley-Ann Morgan, FIA Nike Trost Jonathan Lipkin Charles Canonne Thierry d’Argent