Stress testing is a useful and increasingly popular, yet sometimes misunderstood, method of analyzing the resilience of financial systems to adverse events. This paper aims to help demystify stress tests and illustrate their strengths and weaknesses. Using an Excel-based template with...

The financial turmoil of 2008 highlighted the importance of default investment options in mandatory defined contribution pensions. Their design can improve the scope for intertemporal risk diversification for individuals and increase the likelihood of achieving adequate replacement rates during...

This paper analyzes the performance of the Bulgarian private defined contribution pensions in the second and third pillars of the pension system.