Mixed omens as pensions sector in a crisis

SPONSORED: Once already in this century, we have ignored the lessons of the past. Now we're doing it again, says Aidan McLoughlin of Independent Trustee Company

EU Commissioner, Mairead McGuiness,  has responsibility for Capital Markets Union. Many people in business would like to see pension funds being freed up to invest in more SMEs, infrastructure and in loan finance.

In October 2010, I was part of a team of pensions people who were asked to address the Finance Committee of the Oireachtas as to how pensions could assist the recovery of the economy from the Great Recession. The central thesis of our presentation was that, with a bit of legislative change, pension funds could form a central part of the recovery.

The basis of this approach was that other economies– the UK, Australia, the US – were much more successful at channeling local pension funds into local investments.