​Cyprus pensions provider seeks partners after PEPP launch

Cyprus-based LifeGoals Financial Services is to launch the EU’s second Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) by the end of this month, CEO Michael Hadjihannas has told IPE. The firm is now seeking business partners in a bid to kick-start its offer elsewhere in the EU.

The firm’s PEPP product was listed on the EIOPA’s register two weeks ago, after receiving the green light from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, Hadjihannas added. 

LifeGoals, an Emergo Group company, has been eyeing a PEPP since at least 2021, as IPE reported at the time.

After the authorisation framework in Cyprus was put in place, LifeGoals engaged with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission to receive approval, with assistance from the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA).”

“We are taking our time to launch here in Cyprus, we are coming out with a new app, a lot more sophisticated than our current services. We have been working on this for a year now,” Hadjihannas told IPE.  

The CEO considers PEPP – an individual pension product offered through licence under the MiFID directive – a natural fit for LifeGoals. The provider already has a cross-border IORP platform that is active in Cyprus and in Greece. 

“There is a lot of appetite for PEPP, at least here in Cyprus. I guess this has to do with the tax law of each member state; here in Cyprus we have a 10% tax benefit on the gross salary, the same as the occupational funds,” Hadjihannas said.  

LifeGoals opted for a PEPP after it encountered roadblocks in its attempts to market occupational pensions across Europe. Its PEPP is split into three sub-products, based on personal risk attitude, from the most risk-averse Basic PEPP, to the Growth PEPP, which carries more risk, to the so-called Aggressive PEPP, which has the highest exposure to risky investments, in accordance with the LifeGoals’ PEPP investment policy.

LifeGoals will look for partners in countries across Europe to market the new product, leveraging its capability and technology as a fintech. 

“Our plans are to take it wherever the central banks are willing to accept our application. We will apply to other jurisdictions, two to start, at the same time – one in eastern and one in Western Europe,” Hadjihannas said.  

PEPP has failed so far to spread across Europe, prompting EIOPA to propose a reform of the product. Only one other PEPP provider is listed on EIOPA’s register – Finax in Slovakia, which has German automotive supplier Continental as a client.  

The European Commission will shortly be consulting on changes to the PEPP in a bid to have a legislative reform proposal ready by the end of the year for co-legislators to examine.

LifeGoals is an active member of the Cross Border Benefits Alliance (CBBA), the organisation advocating for cross-border pensions.

CBBA has started discussions with stakeholders on how to offer PEPP as occupational pension product, in line with EIOPA’s staff paper recommending combining occupational and personal PEPP in a single pension product.

In Italy, energy company Eni is in favour of a so-called PEOP (pan-European occupational pensions), CBBA’s secretary general Francesco Briganti said.