PensionsEurope Welcomes the European Commission’s Communication on the Savings and Investments Union
Brussels, 19 March 2025 – PensionsEurope welcomes the European Commission’s Communication on the Savings and Investments Union (SIU), published today. This initiative represents a major step in strengthening Europe’s financial system, expanding investment opportunities for institutional investors such as pension funds and individual citizens, and enhancing the EU’s economic competitiveness amid global challenges.
Rooted in the ambitions of the Capital Markets Union, the SIU seeks to deepen financial markets, foster innovation, and mobilise long-term investments to support the EU’s growth and resilience. It is encouraging to see that the Communication places a strong emphasis on funded pensions, recognising the important role they play as institutional investors in European financial markets.
We strongly support the policy measures proposed in the SIU, which—if well implemented—could significantly enhance pension coverage and adequacy across Europe. We value the focus on auto-enrolment and pension tracking systems. In particular, auto-enrolment has proven highly effective in countries such as the UK and Lithuania, and Ireland’s upcoming 2025 scheme is expected to bring 800,000 additional workers into occupational pensions.
The Communication’s proposal to integrate SIU measures into Country-Specific Recommendations within the European Semester is highly relevant. As pensions are a national competence, the European Commission should make full use of the existing governance framework to encourage and support Member States in implementing meaningful reforms.
However, the plan to launch all pension-related initiatives in Q4 2025 will require careful planning and adequate resources from both the European institutions, as well as various stakeholders. Indeed, ensuring a stable and supportive regulatory environment for pension funds is important. The upcoming review of the IORP II Directive must ensure it remains a robust and stable framework for IORPs across Europe. Regarding the PEPP, we welcome the planned review as the PEPP has not succeeded this far. Reforms are necessary to make the PEPP more accessible, competitive, and attractive to savers. However, the specificities of the IORP II Directive focusing on occupational pension institutions and the PEPP Regulation on a European personal pension product are fundamentally different legal frameworks. If both reviews were to be launched simultaneously by the European Commission, they must be kept separate policy issues.
Efforts to improve savings and investment products are equally important. We agree that the SIU should prioritise the development of simple, investment-friendly savings accounts, drawing on successful national examples.
A central challenge of the SIU is to mobilise more private investments into critical sectors for growth. While we support ongoing efforts by the EU, the EIB group, and Member States to create opportunities in underfunded sectors such as venture capital and private equity, it is crucial that the fiduciary duty of pension funds is never compromised for other policy objectives. The Communication aims to clarify how the prudent-person principle impacts pension funds’ investments. However, this principle as legislated in the IORP II Directive already enables pension funds to invest in private equity and venture capital
The geographical diversification of investments is important. Allowing flexibility in investment geography and asset classes—while maintaining simplicity for savers—is a key component to encourage long-term investment success.
We also stress the importance of deepening capital markets. In particular, further development of securitisation markets is welcomed and needed.
Crucially, the success of both funded pensions and broader savings and investment initiatives depends on the implementation of attractive tax incentives. While this is a national competence, the EU should also encourage Member States to introduce such incentives through the Country-Specific Recommendations of the European Semester.
Commenting on the communication on the SIU, Matti Leppälä, Secretary General/CEO of PensionsEurope, said:
“Europe is facing urgent challenges—declining competitiveness compared to the US and China, geopolitical instability, demographic shifts, and infrastructure gaps. Pension funds cannot solve these issues alone, but they can be part of the solution. The Savings and Investments Union has the potential to improve European capital markets, increase pension coverage and savings, and create better investment opportunities for pension funds. If the EU advances with smart, bold policy actions, pension funds can help drive a stronger, more resilient, and competitive European economy.”
For more information, please contact info@pensionseurope.eu.
Our full answer to the European Commission’s call for evidence on the Savings and Investments Union is available here.
Our answer to the European Commission’s consultation on the SIU is available here.
