On Thursday 28 November, the European Federation of Investors and Users of Financial Services, Better Finance, organised a conference in Brussels on the creation of sustainable and adequate private pension systems in Europe.
Discussions focused on the challenges of Europe’s rapidly ageing population and the crucial role of pension systems in combating climate change.
The head of the European Commission’s ‘Capital Markets Union’ department, Jan Ceyssens, has returned to the need to build a genuine ‘savings and investment union’ (see EUROPE 13393/3).
European pension systems cannot be adequate without a stronger link between savings and investment, he said, referring to the Swedish and Dutch models.
Mr Ceyssens presented three areas of work to be prioritised in order to meet this challenge at European level: - improve financial literacy and encourage investment in diversified products; - promote investment in equities rather than property or deposits; - strengthening Europe’s financial infrastructure to reduce dependence on foreign capital, particularly from the US market.
Discussions also focused on the pan-European pension savings product (PEPP) (see EUROPE 12627/13), the groundwork for which had been laid in 2018 (see EUROPE 12159/17); a promising tool, according to the speakers, but requiring adjustments, especially in terms of taxation and ease of use.
At her hearing at the European Parliament on Wednesday 6 November, the new European Commissioner for Financial Services, Maria Luís Albuquerque, said she wanted to analyse the “failure” of PEPP before proposing a new product (see EUROPE 13519/1). (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)