Pan-European Pensions in Zürich [CH]

The British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce in association with the Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland will be hosting a lunchtime presentation about Pension Fund 2nd pillar - borderless: A Swiss Perspective in Zürich on 6 July. I am honoured to have been asked to speak at that event, which is open to non-members also. The invitation is available here.

Ageing hits politics [NL]

Demographic ageing is no longer approaching, but effectively starting. The Dutch Ministry of Finance receives recommendations of a fiscal policy study group charged with assessing the impact of ageing on Dutch government finance. The recommendations are tough: The next Cabinet should reduce expenditures by some EUR 15 bio (3% of GDP) in order to remain sustainable. Nonetheless, addressing the issue head on is exemplary.

Convergence conference materials

Regular readers of this blog will be aware that my contribution to the IASCF's Frankfurt conference was available online. The IASB has now published all conference materials on their own website.

IZS Seminar on Pensions Directive

IZS invites to a full day seminar on the consequences of the Pensions Directive for the Swiss market. The seminar will take place in Basle, Switzerland on 22 November 2006 and will be held in German. An invitation can be downloaded here.

Reproductive technologies to address demographic challenge?

Rand Corporation has looked into utilising Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) as a component of population policy to mitigate falling fertility rates and thus unfavourable demographic developments across Europe. To do that, the researchers transposed parameters from Denmark, where ART are more widely available than in the UK. They found ART to be three to four times more cost effective than child benefits for instance (via BBC).