Professional Pension Funds: European Issues

Pension systems in Europe tend to be organised with a three pillar framework: a first pillar of « pay-as-you-go » universal pensions universal; a second pillar of pension funds managed by professional organisations and a third pillar with individual savings accounts. Professional pension funds managed by professional associations in coordination with workers union have proved to be resilient to financial crisis and are adaptive to the evolution linked with the ageing population phenomenon. As capitalisation techniques tend to be more popular in France, the experience of pension funds with a paritary governance should be taken into consideration when reforming the pension system.