Publisher:
European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Pension funds (PFs) are financial corporations and quasi-corporations that are mainly engaged in financial intermediation as a consequence of the pooling of the social risks and needs of their members and beneficiaries (social insurance). As social...
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ZBW - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft, Standort Kiel
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Pension funds (PFs) are financial corporations and quasi-corporations that are mainly engaged in financial intermediation as a consequence of the pooling of the social risks and needs of their members and beneficiaries (social insurance). As social insurance schemes, PFs provide income in retirement and often provide benefits in the event of death and disability. PFs in Europe are highly diverse in terms of their legal and regulatory set-ups, corresponding to their roles in the various countries' social protection systems. Occupational pension plans are often negotiated by social partners and subject to national social and labour law. PFs play an important role in the economy. They invest pension savings in financial and non-financial assets and transform those assets into a post-employment income at a later stage. Moreover, those investments help to ensure economic innovation and growth. The financial crisis, the low-interest rate environment and the ageing population in Europe all highlight the need for higher-quality, more granular and more comparable data on this sector. Harmonised and comparable data on the PF sector are hard to collect. This stems from the many different types of PF and the fact that their characteristics vary across countries. The current gaps in the available data make it difficult to establish a comprehensive understanding of the cash flows and risks associated with pension obligations. Regulation ECB/2018/2 on statistical reporting requirements for pension funds (hereinafter, "the Regulation") was adopted on 26 January 2018. The first harmonised information that PFs will report under the Regulation will be quarterly data for the third quarter of 2019 and annual data for 2019. In order to minimise the reporting burden for the industry, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) and the ECB have worked closely together in order to derive statistical reporting requirements from supervisory reporting. This gives national authorities the option of implementing a single reporting flow for common reporters. Decision EIOPA-BOS/18-114 of the Board of Supervisors on EIOPA's regular information requests towards NCAs regarding provision of occupational pensions information set out reporting templates and formats in accordance with the provisions of Directive (EU) 2016/2341 on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs).
