Pensions Council

The Society of Actuaries in Ireland welcomes the Tánaiste’s announcement of the membership of the Pensions Council. 

The Council’s function is to advise the Minister for Social Protection on matters of pensions policy.  Including Brendan Kennedy, Chief Executive of the Pensions Authority, the twelve-person Council includes five of the Society’s Fellow members – the others being Roma Burke, Tony Gilhawley, Sandra Rockett and Dr Shane Whelan – each of whom has a wealth of skills, knowledge and experience to offer. 

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has issued Set 1 of its Solvency II Guidelines in the official languages of the European Union.

The Guidelines cover the following aspects:
 

The Society has responded to the EIOPA consultation on Key Information Documents for Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs). Full details of the consultation are available from http://www.esma.europa.eu/system/files/jc_dp_2014_02_-_priips_discussio…. The Society’s responses is available here.

EIOPA’s latest report maps out the available choices that members of occupational DC pension schemes have in the European context regarding investment in their retirement plans. The report highlights the main issues that national supervisors strive to address in order to ensure the making of effective investment decisions (where effective investment decisions are defined as decisions made in the interest of members, working towards ensuring a sustainable level of pension income).

The Society has today issued a press release welcoming the Government’s decision to establish an expert group to formulate plans for a universal retirement savings scheme for private-sector workers. 

The Society has responded to the Central Bank of Ireland’s (“the Central Bank”) Consultation Paper 89. This consultation paper sets out proposals in relation to reporting templates which the Central Bank deems necessary to address requirements specific to the local market and/or the nature of insurance undertakings supervised in Ireland and which are not catered for in the set of Solvency II harmonised reporting templates being developed by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA).

The Society has responded to the  Department of Finance “Public Consultation Paper: Solvency II Directive”

The Society’s response is available here

On the 18th of November, Gabriel Bernardino, Chairman of EIOPA, gave a speech at the 9th European Pension Funds Congress in Frankfurt. He stated that “The percentage of the EU population that is covered by decent pension systems is still too low. We are indeed facing an EU pension’s landscape in need of reforms.”

In July 2014, the Pensions Authority issued a consultation on Financial Management Guidelines of defined benefit pension schemes. The consultation paper can be viewed here.