The International Monetary Fund raises the alarm on pension funds. In the era of low rates sanctioned by the ECB, their sustainability would be at great risk.
"The solvency of a large number of insurance companies and pension funds" - writes the Washington organization in the latest Global Financial Stability Report - "is threatened by a prolonged period of low interest rates".
According to what we read in the dossier published today, 5 October, «These weaknesses add up to other problems such as demographic ageing. And the increase in concern about this type of financial institution could further accentuate the tendency to save and therefore financial and economic stagnation".
Subject to a greater danger would be particularly German and Japanese insurance companies, but no one, according to the IMF, can afford to ignore the problem. The only way to solve it is to push for transparency on the balance sheets of pension institutions and on the possibility of expanding the range of action of the stress tests already in force for banks, including insurance and funds.
