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Programme of Work
The Programme of Work for 2008-2009 was approved by the Governing Membership at the Annual General Meeting held in Beijing in November 2007. In addition to the completion and continuation of guidelines and projects already launched, the Techncial Committee agreed to start work on 4-5 new projects and to draft a set of guidelines covering the use of intervention, enforcement and sanction powers. Detailed project updates are available on the members' area of the website. Project leaders are designated by an asterisk *.
Programme of Work 2009-2010
Guidelines
Guidelines on the use of intervention powers, sanctions and enforcement: part of the on-going work of the IOPS is to provide comprehensive guidelines on specific operational issues related to pension supervision. A set of guidelines related to sanctions and enforcement is currently being drafted by the membership and is targeted for approval by the Governing Membership at the 2009 AGM, following a period of public consultation.
Projects
IOPS 'Toolkit’ for the risk-based supervision of pension funds: during the discussion of the 2008-2009 POW which took place at the 2007 AGM in Beijing, delegates expressed a strong desire for further work related to risk-based supervision to be made the priority of the Organisation over the coming years. Several projects relating to the broad topic of risk-based supervision were suggested and could be more integrated (including supervisory oversight of pension funds’ risk-management, stress testing + traffic light systems, work on prudential supervision – such as check list of minimum information to be regularly reported to supervisory authorities, triggers for in-depth evaluation and a checklist of critical information to be shared between supervisors). Delegates requested that the work on risk-based supervision be placed within a framework and practical guidance, and also suggested that guidelines could be produced. The proposal was therefore to develop a ‘Toolkit’ to provide practical help for pension supervisory authorities introducing and developing a risk-based supervisory approach. During 2008, the Technical Committee agreed to break the toolkit down into the following modules – each of which will result in a report produced by the project teams. The toolkit is targeted for completion in 2010.
Governance and performance measurement of Supervisory Authorities: following on from the Organisation’s work on supervisory structures, further analysis of the ‘governance’ of supervisory authorities will be carried out – for example looking at whether they really do operate independently, if the appointment mechanisms of directors is sufficiently transparent etc. The operational organisation of integrated supervisory authorities will also be considered. This work should be coordinated with the IMF and the results from their survey on governance of integrated supervisory authorities. During the Technical Committee meeting held in Washington in spring 2008 it was decided to combine the supervisory authorities’ governance project with the project on Performance Indicators for Pension Supervisory Authorities, which was also approved at the 2007 AGM. Delegates requested that a set of performance indicators be drafted, by which their performance may be assessed internally.
Mortality Tables: the pensions committee of the IAA has recently formed a ‘mortality taskforce’, to examine mortality issues relating to pensions (such as looking at how to improve mortality tables, how often these should be updated, how to model uncertainty and to model trend mortality etc.). The taskforce will invite interested parties to join them, with IOPS being represented by Norway. The IOPS project team aims to produce a paper promoting the lesson learnt by the IAA and aiming to increase awareness of mortality risk amongst supervisors and the broader pension community. The timetable for the project will follow the IAA taskforce’s schedule.
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Journal of Pension Economics and Finance
Complementary and Private Pensions throughout the World 2008
