Does an Attractive Pension Product Design Sell by Itself? The Experience of the Czech Republic.

Abstract

This paper deals with the experience of third pillar reform in the Czech Republic, executed in 2013. The core of our study is formed by a comparative analysis of newly introduced supplementary pension savings and its substitute products (investment funds, life insurance) from two main aspects: product features and distribution features. The outcomes are supported by empirical sales and population penetration of the surveyed products. The results indicate that even a pension product with a very attractive product design, such as supplementary pension savings, will be hampered by its substitutes as long as its distribution features are unattractive. This is an important lesson, particularly for the discussed European solution, the pan-European portable pension product (PEPP).