Pensions - Articles - Poor investments and life expectancy a risk to pensions

 Increasing life expectancy and poor investment returns posed the greatest risks to pension provision globally according to an Ius Laboris survey.

 The findings, drawn from 31 of Ius Laboris’s members across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa, also found that countries with established occupational systems tend to be concerned with investment performance and what happens if schemes fail. Countries with emerging systems are more concerned with governance.

 There were also unexpected high risk issues such as balance sheet risk in Canada, regulatory non-compliance risk in Israel and member communication risk in the Netherlands.

 Denmark emerged as the country with the lowest risk scoring 1.42 out of 5 on the risk scale, whilst China and Israel had the highest pension provision risk both scoring 3.74 out of 5.

 Ius Laboris member Eric Bergamin said: “These are extremely challenging times for pension provision and it is important that individuals, private and public sector employers and government alike grasp the challenges facing pension provision and consider how to minimise and manage them on an ongoing basis.”