Workshop “Pension Funding and Risk Management”

The June 28, 2018

University of Angers, Faculty of Law Economics and Management

Find the recording of the Day Here!

The European Retirement System is best described via the three-pillar structure proposed by both the OECD and the European Union. Moreover, pension systems are developed as a function of the economic, financial, demographic and politic background of each country. Their calibration considers the diversity of the retirement regimes the participants belong to, as well as the contribution of each regime on the accrued pension benefit. 

Despite their growing importance with respect to GDP, pension systems challenge in maintaining solvability and an acceptable replacement rate in terms of welfare for their participants. Hence, they often adapt their structure to manage risks related to economic (growth, inflation…), biometric (longevity, demographic structure…) and financial (interest rates…) shocks. During the last twenty years, their expected unsustainability has resulted on changes from unfunded contracts offering high promises to contagious funded ones. However, the shift towards DC contracts has been quite heterogeneous among countries. UK opted for a total shift towards the DC. The Netherlands took an intermediate step in the shift from DB to DC by introducing the Collective Defined Contribution plans. France remained faithful to the DB scheme and still face the burden of oldie boomers on its PAYG schemes.

Despite this heterogeneity, several open issues remain:

-          What are the limits Imposed by these risks on collective pension funding?

-          Are these risks specific to DB or DC contracts? Are they insurable?

-          How will the societal and demographical trends affect the fairness of current design with respect to the objectives of pension systems?

-          Which financial products allow for the best risk management? Is individual investment the solution for future retirement?

The aim of this workshop is to bring together academics and professionals and to share their respective point of view on the lessons learned from these transitions and the feasible solutions.

For further information please contact: pensionworkshop@univ-angers.fr
                                                                                            

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