Plan harmonisation by 2010

Rauser Towers Perrin have studied the pension plan harmonisation perspectives of multinationals, given that regulatory harmonisation is not on the agenda quite yet. Unsurprisingly, the study concludes that plan design is still mostly performed at the national level with some mandatory guidelines from HQ. Nonetheless, plan harmonisation is firmly on the agenda with a target date of 2010. The most important arguments in favour of harmonisation are increased employee mobility within the group and integration into a group-wide total compensation system as well as increased transparency and greater efficiency in risk control while the reduction of admin costs is not considered to be quite as important.