SWITZERLAND - The proposed structural reform of Switzerland's pensions system has drawn fire from the industry, particularly concerning possible increases in costs and regulation.
Last year, the government recommended second-pillar reform that would entail changes in the supervisory structure, as well as new governance rules for pension funds.
ASIP, the pension fund association, has already voiced its strong disapproval of the approach, and now a number of other industry representatives have published highly critical statements on the bill, which is currently in the consultation phase.
A common complaint - and one shared by shared by the Swiss chamber of actuaries (Treuhand-Kammer), Towers Watson in Switzerland, the Swiss federation of retirement foundations (Swiss Vorsorgestiftungen) and industry pension fund PKE Pensionskasse Energie - is that the proposed reform would "go too far", leading to significant increases in red tape and costs.
Ronald Schnurrenberger, chairman of the board at PKE, said: "The planned regulations are evidence of a very alien concept of necessity and feasibility."
Last year, calls for a reform of the second pillar by SGB, the union association, had been one of the main drivers behind the referendum on the conversion rate, yet even it warned that more regulation was "not the answer".
Pension fund service provider PFS Pension Fund Services said that, under current recommendations, pension fund board members will effectively be robbed of their powers, and supervisors and external experts become the decision-makers.
Similarly, the association of autonomous multi-employer pension funds (IGaSG) complained that the new regulations assumed that every board member had criminal intentions and compelled pension fund managers to prove their innocence - effectively a "reversal of the burden of proof".
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