Pensions - Articles - Ensuring peoples dignity in retirement

 People are living longer than ever before and insurers can play a key role in helping them to make the most of their retirement. By providing people with a wide range of private insurance pension products, with or without life risk coverage, insurers help people to adequately prepare for their old age, while also helping governments to reduce pressure on already stretched public finances.

 The G20 must therefore recognise the need for further G20 analysis of increasing longevity and ageing populations, and the need to examine ways for government programs and incentivized self-funded private sector products to be used to offset funding gaps related to longevity and morbidity risk. The G20 Finance Track should also instruct the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to consider the availability and affordability of insurance pension savings products when developing future international standards.

 Recaredo Arias, president of GFIA, commented: “We are experiencing dramatic increases in the ratio of retirees to workers in many countries and this trend is expected to continue for years to come. This puts pay-as-you-go pension systems under severe pressure.

 Private pensions have a huge potential to alleviate a lot of this pressure, while helping people to take control of their retirement provision. It is therefore vital for the G20 to recognise the need for public policies and legislative action throughout the world to help people save longer term and prepare for their retirement. A first step would be for these issues to be included in the G20 Finance Track outcomes.”