Pension regulation is a

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encompassing, the set of laws, rules and authoritative standards governing the

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

industry, and the procedures needed to enforce them. Pension regulation varies widely from one

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

to another - notably due to the persistence of discrepancies in the degree of

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be ...

and breadth of authority and discretionary power that national and regional pension regulators have at their disposal to enforce efficiently existing laws and regulations, in relation with local judicial practices and varying jurisprudential trends. Pension regulation seeks to provide the various norms and standards needed to foster market efficiency, consistency, transparency and accountability across the pension industry; it is a key driver of pension funds' risk management. In Europe, in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, some pension experts such as Anton van Nunen have argued that excessive or misplaced regulatory activism can sometimes have negative

unintended consequences In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences, more colloquially called knock-on effects) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was po ...

, notably when it comes to the strict enforcement of asset liability matching in times high market volatility and the systematic use of bonds-based risk metrics across all asset classes.

Kinds of pensions

Voluntary or mandatory

* Pension is voluntary, when employers are not required to offer a pension, and in case they do it, they have the right to decide about the volume and choose a type of pension. * Mandatory pension system obliges all citizens to make pension savings.

Universal or Means tested

* In case of universal pension every citizen gets a pension starting with a certain age. * Means-tested social pensions are those where eligibility is based on a test of the income of an individual.

PAYG or funded

* PAYG (pay-as-you-go) is when current contributions paid for current pensions. * Funded system means that each individual's contributions pay directly for their pension benefits.

Defined benefit (DB) or defined contribution (DC)

This characteristic defines a party bearing a risk. * Defined benefit: a person is provided with specified payments after retirement. Costs and risks relates to the provider. * Defined contribution: employees and employers are allowed to contribute and invest funds over time to save for retirement. In this case payments depend on the financial system performance.

References

Business law Pensions Economics of regulation Actuarial science Legal research {{economics-stub