Regulatory risk in Poland

Sometimes, Poland can be a confusing country, especially when it comes to pensions. Therefore, it is valuable to have the occasional helicopter view paper, such as the IMF's recently published Technical Note on Competition & Performance in the Polish Second Pillar. The paper contains a description of the structure & function of the Polish retirement provision system in general and the second pillar in particular. That's where appearances can be confusing: The Polish second pillar is evidently not equivalent to occupational pensions in the sense of the Pensions Directive, which is why the Directive's investment guidelines are not directly applicable. Nevertheless, the systemic home bias of the Polish second pillar remains an issue, probably even a self-reïnforcing one thanks to the considerable asset accumulation in the industry. epn also has an interesting piece covering that issue.