PwC in pension asset pooling call

PwC has called for pension funds to be made more efficient through asset pooling.

Pat Wall, partner at PwC and chairman of the Pan European Pensions taskforce said assets in pension funds must grow substantially and pension funds must become more efficient.

“Currently, each member state makes its own rules for pension funds thus creating a highly fragmented and regulatory environment.

“This has resulted in a large number of relatively small inefficient pension funds. Increased costs arise from the duplication of administration and asset management functions.

“The impact on the investment return leads ultimately to smaller pensions and funding problems,” he said.

Asset pooling offers a means of bringing a number of pension funds together to create economies of scale through elimination of duplicated servicing costs and more effective asset management.