Since 1990s, substantial changes in the role of the state in the social security schemes can be observed in the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). While the general framework of social benefits in the CEE countries is still defined by the state, more and more often the task of provision of social security is transferred to the private entities. Such privatization of social policy makes the need for protection mechanism and some state guarantees even stronger. It is still the state that is responsible for the final outcome of social security systems so that is why governments are directly providing or indirectly creating safety mechanisms built-in the private market mechanism used for social purposes. The paper surveys various types of the protection mechanisms in selected CEE countries that exist in the important and already most privatized element of the social security system -the pension system. While describing the safety measures and possible guarantees, special attention is paid to the new forms that have been built up recently. The paper covers both mandatory and voluntary pension markets and identifies present and possible threats in the existing frameworks that can harm the social security. The paper concludes with general assessment and policy recommendations.JEL CODES : H55, G23

Based on data received from pension supervisory authorities, the article reviews 85 different pension schemes in 44 jurisdictions by looking at fees and charges as well as their legal ceilings and their development since 2014. A key finding is the observed decrease in fees and caps. The article presents jurisdictions according to clusters, i.e. by groups of countries with identical or very similar items already covered by pension fees, and analyses the extent to which various cost and fee elements are covered by fees charged to members. Finally, we calculate charge ratios for each cluster to quantify the impact of fees and charges on pension savings. Occupational defined contribution pension schemes and personal plans linked to employment tend to be much more cost effective than personal schemes that have no direct employment link.Liquid funds/stock funds. The maximum fees on assets of other funds are included in this range.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how private pension supervisors in selected jurisdictions monitor and address lost pension accounts and unclaimed pension assets or benefits and draw supervisory implications. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on the survey on private pension schemes of selected International Organisation of Pension Supervisors member jurisdictions. Findings This paper finds that there are differences in severity of the issue of lost pension accounts and unclaimed pension benefits among jurisdictions, and that pension supervisors/regulators differ with regard to awareness of and approaches taken to handle this issue. Some jurisdictions show a well-established systematic approach to deal effectively with the problem of lost pension accounts or unclaimed benefits, while other jurisdictions are yet to recognise and tackle the issue. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first larger cross-country study on lost pension accounts and unclaimed benefits in private pension schemes. The paper presents international comparison of this issue in 32 different jurisdictions and provides examples of good supervisory or regulatory practices.

We analyse the investment behaviour of the defined contribution (DC) pension fund sector in equity markets during and after the 2008–2009 financial crisis until the years 2014–2016 and here for Chile, Mexico, Poland, and Italy. We employ quarterly data on equity purchases and sales and on cash flow at the level of the whole pension sector. Applied are the following methods: analysis of average quarterly transactions; scatter plot analysis of the relation between average quarterly net purchases and quarterly changes in asset value, a correlation analysis of average quarterly transactions in the equity market and its index values, regression analysis of average quarterly transactions in the equity market and its index values. The results indicate that in Poland and Italy, pension funds behaved counter-cyclically, whereas in Chile there are some signs, although less statistically significant, of pro-cyclical behaviour. In the case of Mexico no conclusions could be drawn. The investment behaviour of pension funds might be influenced not only by their strategic decisions but also by other factors that are related to the institutional framework they operate within (e.g. a strategic asset allocation benchmark may induce pro-cyclicality).