Because they will be pan-European, PEPPs are likely to be portable from country to country and will deliver standardised features across the board, regardless of the location in which they were sold. It is also thought they will include flexibility for savers, allowing them to switch providers with relative ease.
Bulgaria currently holds the European Council presidency and the country’s minister for finance, Vladislav Goranov, recently told press that PEPPs will “promote competition amongst pension providers, enabling them to sell pension products outside their national markets and giving savers more choice over how and where to place their savings.”
Draft regulation documents suggest that after a minimum period of five years from the end of the contract savers would be able to switch providers (or five years from the most recent provider switch). Some providers may even allow such changes more frequently and fees for provider changes would be capped.
However, in order to become an expat pensions reality, the regulations must first be approved by European Parliament.
Watch this space.
The new Spanish budget came into force on 6 July. It was a long time in the making. At the end of May Spanish parliament finally approved the government’s 2018 budget following support from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), bringing to an end fears that the long-delayed budget would ever receive the required level of support, particularly in light of the delicate situation in Catalonia.
The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has issued a strong warning against government proposals to raise the state pension age to 68 (with the possibility of being raised higher to 70). It has said that such a scenario would create significant problems – an “unacceptable detriment” – for those with low life expectancy.