Equality without improvement? A case study of the impact of the Belgian unified status among blue-collar and white-collar workers on their occupational pensions

The long-standing EU acquis of equal pay between male and female workers still proves to be a source of inspiration in the fight against discrimination, even in matters beyond the EU’s competence. This article deals with differences in status between blue- and white-collar workers, which have been haunting many Member States even as technological progress erodes its justification. Although this ground was never protected by EU law, a case study of the Belgian unified status with regard to occupational pensions (the second pension pillar), clearly shows the impact of the jurisprudence of the CJEU. In line with this EU case law, there is no requirement to grant the most beneficial pension scheme to all employees, which could lead to equal, but nevertheless very modest occupational pensions. Based on the preliminary results, we can predict that the Belgian unified status will have a positive effect on the number of blue- and white-collar workers affiliated to a pension scheme. It is, however, unlikely that the high level of benefits of the most generous pension schemes will be retained after harmonisation, considering the financial impact on the employer. It is therefore to be expected that the unified status will indeed lead to equal occupational pension schemes between blue- and white-collar workers, but fail to act as a lever to improve the quality of the second pension pillar in Belgium.

Environmentally friendly and socially responsible investment in and by occupational pension funds in the USA and in the EU

Worldwide pension funds, in their capacity as large institutional investors, are under increasing pressure to take social and environmental considerations into account in their investment decision-making process. The concepts Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) are indeed ubiquitous in the current investment and pension community. This article aims to provide some insight into the conceptual relationship between SRI and ESG and its legal implications for the investment behaviour of private pension funds in the USA and the EU. Hence, the first part of the article gives some background to the distinct concepts of SRI and ESG. This leads to the finding that SRI goes one step further than ESG by prioritising moral or ethical considerations that may not be material to an investment’s financial performance, whereas ESG functions as a guideline to enhance financial performance. The second part analyses the legal possibilities and constraints for responsible investment in American occupational pensions and the third part does the same for European occupational pensions. The article concludes with a summary and comparative overview of the American and European lessons.

Financial Stability of European Insurance Companies during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority suggests that as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused significant disruption to the economy, businesses, and people’s lives, national supervisory authorities should mitigate the pandemic’s impact on the European insurance sector. The functioning of insurance companies is in danger as they must balance a drastic increase in the number of claims with their capital and solvency stability. In this study, we evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on insurance companies using European insurance companies’ financial statement data from 2010 to 2020. The results unambiguously demonstrate that the pandemic has negatively affected the functioning of the insurance sector. In particular, the return on assets decreased in German and Italian insurance companies during the pandemic. Furthermore, the solvency ratio decreased in the Belgian, French, and German insurance sectors. Conversely, the Polish insurance sector was unaffected. Moreover, we did not find any effects on the Z-score ratio in our sample. Lastly, the value of receivables owed to Belgian insurance companies increased. Based on this evidence, we argue that European legislators should discuss how to manage the probable financial problems of insurance companies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Good Innings? The Demise of Collectivism in (Mostly) Private Pensions Provision

In UK private pensions provision, collectivism has not quite gone, but it is in danger of being forgotten. This chapter focuses mainly upon defined benefit occupational pensions in the private sector, albeit in the context of wider collectivist commitments in dominant forms of provision, and indeed acknowledging that the state plays a crucial role as regulator, guarantor, and provider of private, occupational pensions. It reflects on the immense (and underappreciated) differences between defined benefit and defined contribution provision (and flawed attempts at creating hybrid forms of provision), before discussing in depth the political and economic factors behind defined benefit’s demise. It also considers recent efforts to regulate, reform, and rescue collectivist pensions in the private and public sectors—finding the state largely incapable of reducing the defined benefit ‘burden’ without itself instead acquiring the employer’s role as temporal anchor.

UTISAK OSIGURAVAČA O EFIKASNOSTI SMERNICA EVROPSKE AGENCIJE ZA NADZOR OSIGURANjA I PENZIJSKIH FONDOVA O SISTEMIMA UPRAVLjANjA INFORMACIONO-KOMUNIKACIONIM TEHNOLOGIJAMA

Th e European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) issued a consultation paper on the 13th March 2020, proposing guidelines on information and communication technology (ICT) security and governance, which will apply from 1st July 2021. In this paper, we aim to determine the perceived eff ectiveness, (i.e. effi ciency, relevance, coherence and benefi t) of the proposed guidelines, by carrying out a survey and discussions with targeted users (Practitioners / Controllers / Regulators in the area of Insurance) and bringing to light their various concerns and recommendations. Th ese guidelines are very superfi cial and generic and they do not reach the purpose for what they were set. Moreover, although they require that specifi c identifi ed risks are addressed they are not specifi c in addressing the how and when and leave it up to the organisations to determine this. Measurability of results is another issue, which makes it very diffi cult for compliance and enforcement to determine when and how to act, even in terms of proportionality. Th erefore, although the guidelines are clear in what they want to achieve, their eff ectiveness of the approach leaves much to be desired and is considered by respondents as creating more confusion than good and can turn out to be just another scope for duplication of eff orts and data collection overspill with no added value.

How Occupational Pensions Shape Extended Working Lives: Gender, Class and Chance after the Norwegian Pension Reform

Individuals’ need for extended working lives depends on the design of pension systems, including occupational pensions. This article examines variation in occupational pension generosity and coverage in Norway’s private sector. The analysis consists of microsimulations of future pension outcomes for cohorts born in 1953, 1963, 1973 and 1983. The first set of calculations estimate average pension levels for individuals with different pension packages who retire at 67; the second, how much longer workers in different cohorts will have to work in order to obtain a replacement rate of 70%. The overall finding is that while all workers in Norway must extend working life in the future, those with the most generous occupational pensions can retire about four years earlier than those with the least generous packages. This shows that the design and regulation of occupational pensions are crucial to the debate on extended working lives.

Augmented wealth in Switzerland: the influence of pension wealth on wealth inequality

Entitlements for social security and occupational pensions present a major wealth component and play a central role for financial security. However, most individual-level data lacks information on pension wealth. By linking various data sources, this contribution estimates the present value of future pension entitlements in Switzerland for statutory pensions, occupational pensions and third pillar accounts and analyses the distribution of augmented wealth, which combines pension wealth and net worth. The CH-SILC survey from 2015 is used to estimate real assets, financial assets and pension wealth of retired individuals. The pension entitlements of non-retired individuals are simulated on the basis of their earning history from administrative records following the accrual method and assuming a real discount rate of 2%. When pension wealth is added to net worth, average wealth doubles, and the Gini-coefficient declines by 26%. The equalising effect is particularly strong for social security pensions. The wealth distribution differs strongly between the three pillars of the pension system; there are also strong differences between gender and age groups. In Switzerland, wealth accumulation continues after retirement age.