Review of the pan-European Personal Pension (PEPP)

There is a growing pensions gap in the European Union and about half of consumers could meaningfully mitigate the risk of poverty in old age for themselves by investing into a good quality retirement savings product, if one was available. However, even the consumers who could, often don’t engage due to mistrust in financial services. Offering a high-quality, standardised product could increase participation by establishing a trustworthy and recognisable option and would meaningfully improve the retirement outlook for a large number of consumers.

There are enough options for retirement savings products in the European Union. What’s missing is a high quality, easily accessible option to circumvent the often-unsuitable results European retail investment markets offer to consumers. For the PEPP to fill this need it must be standardised and quality controlled.