But it’s worth looking further afield to Australia’s pension market which has transformed drastically in the last 20 years. So much so that it now boasts the fifth-largest pension market in the world, with assets under management of AUD 3.5 trillion (€2.3trn) at the end of 2022. Firstly, rather than forcing employees into mandatory contributions, which is what the Irish scheme purports to do, Australians have only mandated employer contributions. In contrast, the UK has a similar issue that has been exasperated by layering auto-enrolment onto an existing pension landscape. Both systems have their flaws, but it will be interesting to see what the Irish market looks like in 2026 after IORP II and auto-enrolment have embedded.

Source: Irish Independent November 19, 2023 19:18 UTC