It is expected that 13 pan-European personal pension product (PEPP) providers will launch products on the first day they are able to, according to European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) executive director, Fausto Parente.

Speaking at the PensionsEurope annual conference held online today, 10 June, Parente said that EIOPA is starting to understand the “appetite of the different players”.

“What I know at the moment is we are starting to understand the appetite of the different players and immediately after the application date, which is 22 March 2022, there will be around 13 players ready to offer a product and, by and large, 50 players are considering to launch a PEPP during the first two years,” he said.

EIOPA is now focusing on the “less visible” work that it needs to prepare as the supervisor, such as how to make the analysis with the national competent authorities when it receives an application and then how to completely supervise the products, Parente said.

He hopes the PEPP will help to close the pension gap as in the past, “demand was strong [for the PEPP], now we hope the offer will follow the demand”.

When asked about the PEPP charge cap, Parente said EIOPA’s advice at the beginning did not include the cost cap. However, he has heard of the concerns from many that the fee cap is too high.

Despite this, he said that EIOPA “does not have so much to do” with the fee cap and everything that it was asked to put in place, it has. However, he added that if the cost cap is an issue then there is a clause to revise it after the first year of implementation.

Speaking at the conference yesterday, 9 June, European Commission vice-president for democracy and demograophy, Dubravka Šuica, said she was delighted with the progress of the pan-European personal pension product (PEPP), noting that the draft regulations were published in March this year.

She also explained that pension funds have an important role to play in overcoming the challenges that come with an ageing society.

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