In September 2026, Trafalgar House released findings from its 2026 Trust & Confidence Survey showing that 24.4% of respondents agreed their pension would enable them to live comfortably in retirement, down from 26.3% in 2025. Another 17.1% selected “don’t know,” up from 15.8%. The research covered more than 2,000 UK adults and was completed at the beginning of 2026, according to the provider. Publication in September should not be

In September 2026, the Hamilton Project published research on movements into and out of US direct care jobs in long-term care settings. The analysis reports that fewer than half of these workers remain in the same type of job in the following year. Workers leaving for other employment tend to obtain higher wages and greater access to employer-sponsored health insurance and pensions. Published on 29 September, the study concerns

In September 2026, the European Commission published an account of its 10 September workshop on supplementary pensions and auto-enrolment, organised with the Irish Presidency of the Council. The Commission says automatic enrolment has helped increase participation and reduce pension gaps, particularly where occupational coverage is low. Its 25 September note encourages national initiatives while explicitly rejecting a simple copy-and-paste model across Member States. That distinction matters to employers. The

In September 2026, Aon reported GBP 10.2 billion of UK bulk annuity transactions completed during the first half of the year, bringing smaller pension schemes into focus in an active risk transfer market. The figures concern January to June transactions, rather than deals completed when the analysis was published. For multinational employers with legacy UK defined benefit obligations, the practical question is whether their scheme can execute a suitable

A busy market, with more smaller transactions The UK pension risk transfer market remained active in the first half of 2026. Hymans Robertson counted more than 135 transactions, with an aggregate value of about £10.2 billion, compared with £9.8 billion in the same period a year earlier. A notable feature was the number of transactions below £100 million. The figures are evidence of activity, not a forecast for the

Default guided retirement solutions for defined contribution pension holders could expose millions of retirees to financial losses, according to new research from the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT). The study, commissioned by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, evaluated four retirement income models against behavioral evidence on pension decision-making: drawdown, immediate annuities, flex and fix, and retirement collective defined contribution (CDC). Under the Pension Schemes Act 2026, DC trustees must

Arboreum in September 2026 launched a multi-employer, whole-of-life collective defined contribution (CDC) pension plan in the U.K. designed to give members a target-based income for life. The firm, owned by Collective Pensions and majority backed by the Vestey and Timpson family businesses, developed the scheme with Hymans Robertson and CMS. The launch follows The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) decision to begin accepting applications for multi-employer CDC schemes on 31 July

In the UK, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) in September 2026 unveiled a new outcomes-focused enforcement approach that prioritizes early intervention and data-driven risk detection over rigid compliance checks, aiming to prevent harm to pension savers before it occurs. Under the framework, TPR will evaluate potential enforcement cases based on three factors: impact, scale, and complexity. High-impact or high-scale cases will typically take priority even when straightforward, while low-impact, low-scale

UK pension industry bodies in September 2026 urged the government to overhaul the General Levy framework before pushing through proposed increases, warning the changes could unfairly burden large schemes and undermine consolidation goals. Responding to the DWP’s consultation on the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes General Levy Regulations Review 2026, Pensions UK acknowledged the need to address the levy deficit funding bodies such as The Pensions Regulator, the Money

In June 2023, South Africa’s National Treasury published draft legislation for a two-pot retirement system. The original proposal’s timetable subsequently changed, and SARS confirms that implementation began in September 2024. The distinction matters when using historical announcements to explain a benefit. Employees need an account of the arrangement applicable to them, with savings access, preserved retirement provision and tax consequences explained separately. Begin with the correct stage of the

About 10.1 million working-age EU citizens reside outside their home country, with Germany hosting the most. Labor mobility is evolving, showing longer stays and broader age diversity, indicating a shift towards multi-country careers.

European Economic Area (EEA) unit-linked personal pension products generated average returns of 9.6% in 2024, according to new analysis from the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), published in Apriol 2026. The authority’s Costs and Past Performance Report examined 1,677 pension products across the EEA, revealing significant performance variations by product type and geography. Over the five-year period from 2020-2024, unit-linked personal pension products delivered annualized net returns

PensionsEurope in March 2026 published a statement criticizing the European Commission’s revised Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), arguing it still fails to adequately address the unique characteristics of occupational pension schemes. The industry association warned that the SFDR framework remains primarily designed for retail investment products rather than pension funds, which operate in fundamentally different environments. Unlike retail investors who can execute personal investment preferences, pension scheme members participate

Pensioenfederatie, the Dutch Federation of Pension Funds, in February 2026 urged the European Commission to better coordinate public and private investment in climate resilience projects as physical climate risks become increasingly critical for long-term institutional investors. In its response to the Commission’s climate resilience consultation, Pensioenfederatie outlined three key recommendations to mobilize private institutional capital for climate adaptation. The federation called for clearer expectations around private capital’s role in

Dutch financial services giant Achmea in January 2026 appointed Frank Olde Hartman as director of Achmea Pensioenservices (APS), effective February 1, 2026, to oversee the unit’s strategic wind-down by 2030. The appointment comes as APS undergoes a major transition, with the business being phased out due to unprofitability as key clients migrate to the Netherlands’ new pension system. Achmea will continue supporting pension fund clients including Centraal Beheer APF,

According to the latest report from the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), published in December 2025, cross-border activity among IORPs across the European Economic Area stayed broadly flat in 2024. EIOPA’s fifth annual Cross-Border IORPs Report 2025 shows that 27 cross-border IORPs were active across the EEA last year—down one from 2023. Zoom out, though, and the bigger picture hasn’t changed. EIOPA confirms what it has been

Utmost Group in December 2025 announced it had agreed to sell its bulk purchase annuity (BPA) business, Utmost Life and Pensions (ULP), to JAB Insurance for an undisclosed sum, subject to regulatory approval. Completion is expected by mid-2026. JAB will acquire the entire business, which holds more than £5bn in assets and employs around 175 people. ULP entered the BPA market in late 2024 and has completed 11 buy-in

In January 2025, the UK government announced plans to ease restrictions on returning defined-benefit pension surpluses. For employers, the proposal raised a funding and governance question: how might a future release support their pension arrangements or wider reward decisions while protecting promised benefits? Read the dated development The announcement envisaged agreements between employers and trustees. It preserved the trustees’ overarching duty to protect members’ benefits. The policy announcement did

In January 2024, The Pensions Regulator laid its General Code in Parliament, consolidating ten existing codes covering pension governance and administration. The original announcement anticipated commencement on 27 March; the regulator’s later annual report records actual commencement on 28 March 2024. The historical distinction matters. The code brought expectations into a more coherent format, while many underlying standards were already established. For multinational pension sponsors, the practical question is

In May 2023, the Dutch Senate approved the Future Pensions Act, which entered into force in July 2023 and began a transition toward contribution-based occupational pension arrangements. Those legal milestones should be distinguished from subsequent implementation decisions. DNB’s later guidance identifies 1 January 2028 as the transition deadline. For multinational employers, the practical task is to establish who is responsible for each decision affecting the local pension programme. Separate

Now in its second edition, the European Retirement Week 2022 will take place from 28 November to 3 December 2022 in Brussels, Belgium. The purpose of the European Retirement Week is twofold: raising awareness of the pension challenge, and serving as a platform for stakeholders and policymakers to discuss workable solutions to ensure that people in Europe can count on adequate and sustainable pensions, today and tomorrow. Challenges include

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

Ahead of the third G7 Pensions Digital Forum devoted on ESG, Inclusive Growth and the Future of Retirement, a GBV Quick Take with Nicolas J. Firzli, Director-General of the World Pensions Council, a Paris-based international association of public and private pension institutions

The European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP) announces the 12th edition of the Transatlantic & World Pension Alliance Conference. The event will take place from 27 to 29 May 2020 in Brussels, Belgium. Moderated by GBV magazine, the conference is organized by AEIP in cooperation with the U.S. National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP), the Multi-employer Benefit Plan Council of Canada (MEBCO), and the World Pension Alliance, currently

OECD’s new report, Pension Markets in Focus 2019, shows that despite a decline of pension assets in the OECD area and internationally in 2017/18, over the last decade, however, pension assets have increased in nominal terms in almost all reporting countries. This can be attributed to an increase in the proportion of working-age coverage, which was strong in countries such as Israel, Latvia, Bulgaria, Colombia, North Macedonia, and New

Brussels-based lobby CBBA-Europe in October 2019 announced its Annual Conference, to be held on November 13 and 14, 2019, in Brussels, Belgium. This year’s conference theme is “The New Social and Employee Benefits’ Environment between Challenges & Innovation”. November 13 is about Pensions and Investments (9am – 5pm) November 14 will deal with Healthcare, mental health and other benefits (9am – 12 noon). Participants include E.U. Institutions, EIOPA, OECD,

8th  WPC Forum, Brussels 23 & 24 May 2019: Pension and Insurance in the ‘Age of Geoeconomics’ Nicolas J. Firzli is Director-General of the World Pensions Council (WPC), a Paris, France-based international association of public and private pension institutions, and an Advisory Board Member for the World Bank Group Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF). GBV: Nicolas, you are one of the original coiners of terms such as ‘The New Silk