Considering the growing role of private and funded pension provision and the sensitivity of private pension provision to the economic climate, there is an increasing need of comparable and reliable information on private pension plans in order to better monitor retirement income adequacy and the...

This paper examines how uncertainty regarding future mortality and life expectancy outcomes, i.e. longevity risk, affects employer-provided defined benefit (DB) private pension plans liabilities. The paper argues that to assess uncertainty and associated risks adequately, a stochastic approach...

This paper provides a comparative analysis of defined contribution (DC) pension systems in Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. There are considerable similarities in the systems which have evolved out of employer sponsored trust-based defined benefit (DB) systems and...

Annuities are specifically designed to cover the risk that an individual outlives their own resources by transferring such risk to an insurance undertaking. Despite an increasing need for annuity products (due to increasing longevity, decreasing state pensions, a rise in Defined Contribution...

This paper discusses responses to current financial and economic crisis by regulators, supervisors and policy makers in the area of private pensions. These responses are examined in the light of international guidelines, best practices and recommendations to improve the design of private...

To adapt pension systems to demographic trends, many countries are reducing pay-as-you-go public pension levels and lifting retirement ages. In this context, funded pensions could play a major role to avoid adequacy gaps. Yet, as this paper shows, the coverage of funded private pensions, as...

China currently has a highly diversified structure of pension regulation and supervision. In this paper we first review the legal framework of private pension fund regulation and supervision in other economies, including Australia, Chile, Hong Kong China, Poland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and...

Most countries have separate pension plan for public sector employees. The future fiscal burden of these plans can be substantial as the government usually is the largest employer, pension promises in the public sector tend to be relatively generous, and future payments have to be paid out...

The principal purpose of this paper is to analyse the trade-off between the uncertainty in contributions on the one hand and benefits on the other that is embedded in different pension arrangements. The paper employs the funding ratio (ratio of assets to liabilities) and the replacement rate...

Good governance is increasingly recognized as an important aspect of an efficient private pension system, enhancing investment performance and benefit security. Yet, despite regulatory and industry initiatives, governance weaknesses persist across OECD and non-OECD countries. This paper...