A Tale of Two Systems: has France solved the pension savings dilemma?

The Pan European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) was voted into law by European Parliament in 2019 for implementation in 2022.

As FECIF warned at the time, the PEPP is not having an impact on the saving and investment behaviour of European households. It seems destined to follow a long list of stillborn retirement savings products (like the UK’s Stakeholders Pension or Germany’s Riester Pensions), systematically disappointing.

Yet the launch of the French Plan d’Epargne Retraite (PER) created by the Loi PACTE in 2019 shows that success is far from impossible in this field.

What can we learn from comparing both examples? How could future attempts increase their chance of success?

A difficult birth in Brussels
It was the year 2019, and the European Commission had taken its Pan European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) regulation through approval by both the European Parliament and the European Council, for implementation in 2022 to create a new pan-European savings vehicle to enable households across all EU countries to increase their financial security in retirement by building a nest egg...

The European Federation of Financial Advisers and Financial Intermediaries (FECIF) was chartered in June 1999 for the defence and promotion of the role of financial advisers and intermediaries in Europe.

FECIF, the only body representing European financial advisers and intermediaries, it is based in Brussels, the heart of Europe.