A group of nine European associations in June 2021 announced the launch of European Retirement Week, which will take place during the week of 29 November 2021. The goal of this initiative is to provide a platform for a wide range of stakeholders to debate the future of pensions in Europe and to raise citizens’ awareness of the need to save for retirement. Achieving pension adequacy is indeed crucial

The role of compensation and benefits manager in charge of a company’s pension plan has always required multiple skills. Not only must you know about the pension scheme itself, you also must be an honorary actuary and an expert in finance, accountancy, and tax.

The OECD in December 2019 published updated versions of the 2019 series of its E.U. Country Health Profiles. The profiles provide a concise overview of health and health systems in the EU/European Economic area, emphasizing the particular characteristics and challenges in each country against a backdrop of cross-country comparisons. Each Country Health Profile provides a short summary of: Health status Risk factors The organization of the health system Its

Sibylle Reichert has joined the Association Internationale de la Mutualité/International Association of Mutuals (AIM) as of June, 2019. She remains based in Brussels, Belgium, where she has served as a Member of the Occupational Pension Stakeholder Group of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and a Board Member of the European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP). Reichert previously headed the Brussels Office of Pensioenfederatie (Federation of Dutch

In June 2019, much of Europe was struck by early heatwave, with temperatures reaching nearly 46 Centigrade (115 Fahrenheit) in France, an all-time record. A heat wave is characterised by extremely high temperatures over the course of several days and nights. They have significant impact on our daily lives – we feel overheated and tired. When a heat wave strikes, many governments activate a “heat action plan”, advising those affected to drink water, avoid strenuous exercise, and stay cool. If not, one risks having a heat stroke, which can be potentially life-threatening.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in November 2018 released the 2018 edition of Health at a Glance: Europe. This report is led by the European Commission and designed to assist member states in improving the health of their citizens and the performance of their health systems. The report cites “two overarching trends [that] warrant special mention”: [T]he steady increase in life expectancy has slowed considerably in

A survey conducted by Swiss Life in Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, and the United Kingdom and published in November 2018 found that only 46% of respondents feel confident about their current financial situation. The differences in the individual countries are huge: 65% of Swiss respondents said they feel comfortable with their finances and only 27% feel financially stressed. By contrast, financial confidence in Austria (48%), Germany (44%) and the

The European Commission in August 2018 announced the names of the ten members of its recently established “High Level Group on [supplementary] pensions”. The mission of the group is “to provide policy advice to the Commission on matters related to ways of improving the provision, safety through prudential rules, inter-generational balance, adequacy and sustainability of supplementary (occupational and personal) pensions in light of the challenges in the Union and

Consulting firm HR Path in May 2018 acquired Ataraxis, headquartered in Belgium and operating in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain and France. Ataraxis is a Workday specialist (Workday is a provider of enterprise cloud software for finance and human resources). Ataraxis will become the dedicated Workday practice of HR Path. The senior management team, Tom Hillen, Wouter Van den Avont and Jan Snyers will become HR Path partners. Ataraxis

Lockton hosts its annual Global Benefits Forum focusing on “Rethinking Corporate and Employee Wellbeing”. In 2018, the Forum will be held in Chicago, Hong Kong, and London. General and breakout sessions will address how corporate policies and employee benefit programs can best support the financial, physical, mental, and social wellbeing of employees in a global organization. The European edition of the Forum is held over two days on June

Advocacy organization Cross Border Benefits Alliance-Europe (CBBA-Europe) will hold its inaugural conference to a packed audience on 6 December, 2017 in Brussels, Belgium. Over 100 delegates have registered and the conference no longer accepts applications to attend, due to space restrictions. Focusing on ‘Cross-border and pan-European Pensions, and Why CBBA Supports Them’, the inaugural event is supported by the likes of Mercer, Zurich, Generali’s GEB, Amundi, and Previnet. As

Advocacy organization Cross Border Benefits Alliance-Europe (CBBA-Europe) will hold its inaugural conference on 6 December, 2017 in Brussels, Belgium. CBBA-Europe’s purpose is to promote cross-border and pan-European employee benefit plans in Europe. The two keynote speakers are former Obama Administration’s Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security of the US Department of Labor, Phyllis Borzi, and Chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), Gabriel Bernardino. Attendance is

A July 2017 report by Research Nester indicates that the corporate travel insurance market expects to see robust growth from 2017 to 2024 at a rate of 8.6% per year (CAGR  – Compound Average Growth Rate) over the forecast period, thanks to an increase in business travel. The European region accounts for the largest market share in the global corporate travel insurance market, followed by Asia-Pacific, while Europe is

Recently launched advocacy organization Cross Border Benefits Alliance-Europe (CBBA-Europe) in August 2017 announced plans to hold its inaugural conference in November or in December, 2017. CBBA-Europe’s purpose is to promote cross-border and pan-European employee benefit plans in Europe. To join the Alliance or for more information about the upcoming conference, contact CBBA-Europe’s Secretary General, Francesco Briganti. Phone +32 2 401 87 92, email francesco.briganti@cbba-europe.eu

Advocacy organization Cross Border Benefits Alliance-Europe (CBBA-Europe) in July 2017 was launched to promote cross-border/pan-European employee benefit plans in Europe, including pensions, healthcare, disability, long-term care, and well-being/wellness programs. The Alliance “is strongly convinced that the current national barriers to the creation of cross-border employee benefits represent a useless burden and foolish costs for sponsor companies and future beneficiaries”. CBBA-Europe will lobby E.U. institutions and member states to remove

Lockton Global Benefits is hosting its annual Global Benefits Forum in three locations in 2017: Washington, D.C., London and Manila. The theme of each Forum is “Employee Benefits in a Globally Connected World.” The European edition of the Forum is held over two days on June 7 and 8, 2017 in London, UK. The registration fee is GBP 350 with an early-bird discount available until January 20, 2017. Additional

The U.K.’s High Court in November 2016 ruled that the British government could not trigger Article 50 of the E.U. Treaty, thereby setting off Brexit negotiations, without having Parliament voting on the matter first. The government has appealed the decision and the appeal will be heard in the U.K. Supreme Court in early December. The court stated it would deliver its judgment, which is final, “probably in the New

The European Commission in October 2016 conducted hearings with pension funds, asset managers, insurance undertakings, individuals, consumer associations, and public authorities  to debate the need for a pan-European pension product. The panel debates allowed stakeholders to determine if EU action fostering the emergence of European personal pension products is appropriate as well as proportionate. At stake are simple, affordable, and transparent pension plans that provide better returns. More investment

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) published an analysis of how EU legislation impacts on the U.K. insurance and long term savings industry after BREXIT. The analysis, titled EU Exit: EU Legislation Mapping Exercise, identifies legislation that ranges from key consumer protections, such as the European Health Insurance Card and Data Protection regulations, to EU-wide prudential regulations like Solvency II. The mapping exercise identified 80 “relevant” pieces of EU

The United Kingdom following its referendum, in June 2016, decided to leave the European Union. From the perspective of global employee benefits and global mobility, the consequences are unknown as of June 24, the day when “Brexit” was announced. Not least because the modalities and the details of the forthcoming separation of the United Kingdom and the European Union are still to be negotiated according to the Treaty of Lisbon,

The objective of Track and Trace Your Pension in Europe (TTYPE) is to allow E.U. citizens to find all relevant information about their pensions regardless of when and where they worked and accumulated pension rights. TTYPE’s European Tracking Service (ETS) extends and builds on existing National Tracking Services (NTS) that store the pension records of an employee along his/her changes in employers in one same country. After a planning

Global Benefits Vision: What is AEIP’s mission in general terms and how does it relate to global employee benefits? Bruno Gabellieri: AEIP is mainly a lobbyist organization; it is registered as a special-interest lobby with the European Parliament and the European Commission. I am also registered with EIOPA as an independent member of the occupational pensions stakeholder group, because I’m the Secretary-General of AEIP.

Willis announced the appointment of Brian Shea as Head of Europe for Willis Capital Markets & Advisory, its insurance investment banking division, based in London, effective August 24, 2015. Brian joins from reinsurer  SCOR, where he was Chief Corporate Strategy Officer after 20 years as an investment banker with Salomon Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

Cigna in April 2015 named Javier Cano as managing director of its global healthcare benefits business in Europe. While he continues to be based in Madrid, Javier leads a team operating across Europe with three key operational hubs located in the U.K., Belgium, and Spain. He joined Cigna in 2006 as sales director, having been previously with Oliver Wyman (Marsh McLennan group). He holds an MBA from INSEAD and