The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) on Friday 17 April issued new recommendations to national supervisors to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the pension sector.
“As long-term investors Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORPs) can play a stabilising role in current volatile markets”, EIOPA said in a statement.
Thus, in order for IORPs to be able to give priority to the continuity of their operational activities, it calls on national supervisors to show some “flexibility” towards them, in particular as regards the collection of contributions from employers facing liquidity pressures or as regards the deadlines for the publication of documents and data considered “less urgent” in view of the crisis.
The EIOPA also invites them to monitor closely the liquidity positions of IORPs, which may face significant pressures due to late contributions or the expected decline in dividends paid on shares held by IORPs.
All in all, the authority considers that national authorities should, as far as possible, seek to strike “an appropriate balance between the primary goal of safeguarding the long-term interests of members and beneficiaries and the aim of avoiding short-term pro-cyclical impacts on the real economy”.
See the statement: https://bit.ly/3bjapjP (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)