Denise Voss, chair of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (Alfi), remains confident the European Commission will be able to launch the pan-European personal pension (Pepp) this year or before the end of parliament in April 2019.
A Pepp is an investment wrapper that can contain a number of vehicles, such as Ucits, if they meet the requirements.
Crucially it is designed to be portable across the EU and is considered an important step in promoting worker mobility within the bloc.
Voss believes the product comes at the right time for the market and enjoys substantial political backing.
“Pepps will be good for savers and it will be good for asset managers,” she said. “The taxation around the Pepp is a challenge. This isn’t the first time the Commission has tried something like this.
“The Commission is working hard to make sure member states offer the Pepp the same tax advantages as domestic products.”
At an Alfi briefing on Wednesday, Voss said: “The Pepp comes at the right time because it offers more people the opportunity to take responsibility for their financial well-being.”
As well as sitting as the chair of Alfi, Voss is conducting officer of Franklin Templeton Investments and sits on its Luxembourg board. Prior to Franklin Templeton she was an auditor with Coopers & Lybrand in the US.
Pepps opposition
Pepps, which have long been in gestation, have come under fire from Insurance Europe, the continent’s insurance and reinsurance federation, which has branded the Pepps project as poorly designed.
In response to a Pepp consultation, Insurance Europe told the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa) in 2016: “Personal pension products already being sold in Europe meet the heterogeneous needs of consumers, while respecting areas of national competence such as taxation, social and labour law, as well as general good rules.
“Therefore an excessively prescriptive European regime would fail to fit the current market and national frameworks and would undermine the overall policy objective,” it said.
