Resources
The IOPS is an independent, standard-setting body whose mission is to promote good practices in pension supervision and to serve as a world-wide forum for policy dialogue and the exchange of information.
The key resource of the IOPS is its very active membership. Research projects are proposed and developed by country members and project teams – ensuring the great involvement, relevance and commitment to all projects undertaken.
IOPS Principles of Private Pension Supervision
The IOPS Principles of Private Pension Supervision (pdf) provide a set of principles to cover the necessary requirements for an efficient and effective pension supervisory regime.
Widely adopted and used by supervisory authorities from around the world, they outline 10 main areas for effective pension supervision. [more]
Methodology
The Methodology for Review of Supervisory Systems using IOPS Principles (pdf) provides a structured framework to pension supervisory authorities for a self-assessment vs. the Principles or an assessment by 3rd parties. [version française disponible ici]
Guidelines and Good Practices on Pension Supervision
These guidelines and good practices aim to help pension supervisory authorities to identify the areas of weakness to bring the regulation and supervisory regimes and techniques in line with international standards. Although they are not legally binding instruments, the Members are encouraged to observe and adopt them and identify the areas of weakness to bring the regulation and supervisory regimes and techniques in line with international standards.
View the Guidelines
Core Documents
Articles and Documentation of Interest
- Volatility, uncertainty and market fluctuations: Invaluable lessons for the private pension industry, Interview with Helen Rowell, IOPS President, 2021 issue of the Financial Marketplace Magazine, Kingdom of Eswatini (download PDF)
- Pension Fund Environmental, Social and Governance Risk Disclosures: Developing Global Practice Resource and Environment Working Group, International Actuarial Association (December 2020)
- How Supervisors can improve the effectiveness of financial education, Toronto Centre (July 2020)
- TC Community of Practice: How Supervisors Can Improve the Effectiveness of Financial Education, with the speakers William Price and Olga Fuentes, Vimeo (July 2020)
- Promoting Good Governance in Private Pensions, Newsletter of the Ministry of Financial Services and Good Governance of Mauritius (June 2020).
- IOPS Statement on pension supervisory actions to mitigate the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis (May 2020).
- IOPS Members measures taken to address the COVID-19 crisis (April-October 2020)
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older persons, Policy brief, UNECE (May 2020).
- Pensions Briefing: Incorporating ESG factors in pension investment activity, Stanko, D., IPE Magazine (April 2020).
- Supervisory reporting requirements for pension funds which are fit for purpose, PensionsEurope (2019).
- Results of the Peer Review on Supervisory Practices with Respect to the Application of the Prudent Person Rule for IORPs (2019), EIOPA (2019).
- Risk-based Supervision Methodology, CONSAR Mexico (2018).
- Pension funds want ESG guidelines, Ramirez Fuentez, C.,Top1000funds.com (2018).
World Bank Papers
Pension systems
Developing Insurance Markets : Supervision of Deposit Administration Pension Products Offered by Insurance Companies (Stewart, Fiona Elizabeth and Tetsutaro Shindo 2020)
Reverse Mortgages, Financial Inclusion, and Economic Development : Potential Benefit and Risks (Knaack, Peter, Margaret J. Miller and Fiona Elizabeth Stewart 2020)
Early Access to Pension Savings : International Experience and Lessons Learnt (Stewart,Fiona Elizabeth, Himanshi Jain and Will Sandbrook 2019)
Pension Systems in East Africa : A Deep Dive (2020)
Developing Coherent Pension Systems : Design Issues for Private Pension Supplements to NDC Schemes (Price, William Joseph 2019)
Case Study on the Employee Provident Fund of Malaysia (Price, William Joseph, et al., 2018)
Designing pension systems with coherent funded private pillars including issues for notional defined contribution schemes (Price, William Joseph 2018)
Simulating pension income scenarios with penCalc : an illustration for India's national pension system (Price, William Joseph and Renuka Sane 2018)
Arab pension systems : trends, challenges and options for reforms (Price, William Joseph, et al., 2017)
BRIEF: Expanding coverage of good quality private pensions (Price, William Joseph, Marlon Rolston Rawlins and Fiona Elizabeth Stewart 2016)
Outcome based assessments for private pensions : Methodology with a case study for Costa Rica (Price, William Joseph 2016)
Outcome based assessments for private pensions: A handbook (Price, William Joseph, John Steven Ashcroft and Richard Evan Inglis 2016)
BRIEF New lessons from Australia to improve pension outcomes (Price, William Joseph 2016)
Albania - Financial sector assessment program : Developing private pensions in Albania (Price, William Joseph 2014)
Reversal and reduction, resolution, and reform : lessons from the financial crisis in Europe and Central Asia to improve outcomes from mandatory private pensions (Rudolph, Heinz P. and William Joseph Price 2013)
The Impact of Matching on Savings in the UK
Chapter 6 of the World Bank report, Matching Contributions for Pensions: A Review of International Experience (Price, William Joseph 2013)
Capital market development /Investment
Capital Markets and SMEs in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies : Can They Go the Distance? (2020)
Practical Guide on the Potential of Capital Markets Development in Small Economies (2019)
Housing Finance: Investment Opportunities For Pension Funds (2018)
Pension funds, capital markets, and the power of diversification (Stewart, Fiona Elizabeth, Romain Despalins and Inna Remizova 2017)
Capital Markets Development : Causes, Effects, and Sequencing (2019)
The Evolution of the Canadian Pension Model. Practical Lessons for Building World-class Pension Organizations (2017)
Sustainable Finance
Pension-Fund Investment in Forestry (Binkley, Clark S., Fiona Stewart and Samantha Power 2020)
Seeing the forest for the trees: Why pension funds should take another look at forestry as an asset class World Bank Blogs, (Fiona Stewart and Samantha Power 2021)
Sustainable Investment:Best Practice Disclosure Checklist for Pension Funds (2020)
Climate Change in APEC : Assessing Risks, Preparing Financial Markets, and Mobilizing Institutional Investors (Stewart, Fiona Elizabeth and Miria A. Pigato 2020)
Incorporating ENVIRONMENTAL,SOCIAL and GOVERNANCE (ESG) Factors into Fixed Income Investment(Inderst, Georg and Fiona Stewart 2018)
Useful Links
OECD Global Pension Statistics Project (GPS)
This project provides a valuable means for measuring and monitoring the pension industry. It allows inter-country comparisons of current statistics and indicators on key aspects of retirement systems across OECD and non-OECD countries.
This annual report, which now covers 87 countries, gives an overview of private pension systems worldwide and outlines latest developments.
Database of complementary and private pensions
The ISSA/OECD/IOPS Complementary and Private Pensions Database provides a comprehensive data source on the regulation of private pension systems worldwide. It is publicly available on website of The International Social Security Association (ISSA):
Cambridge Journal of Pension Economics and Finance
Since its founding in 2001, the Journal of Pension Economics and Finance has served as the only peer-reviewed journal focusing on pension economics and finance issues.
Through its association with the OECD and the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS), this journal has become an influential outlet for research on pension issues and is widely circulated to the top academic departments as well as leading regulators, policymakers and international organisations.
Members can access JPEF issues online through this link.
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