Individual responsibility for pensions is set to increase over time, which calls for greater regulation and better information to savers, the panel titled "Revitalising EU Capital Markets (Through Pensions and Other Reforms)" held as part of the Investors' Week event was told on Thursday.
Tim Shakesby, a policy analyst at the European Commission's Directorate General for the Internal Market, highlighted the need for suitable public awareness about investing in pensions. If people need to take greater responsibility, they should also be provided with more information, he said.
This was echoed by Guillaume Prache of the European Federation of Financial Services Users (Eurofinuse), who said that pension funds often lacked transparency in their operations and left savers with a lack of precise information about their investment.
Klaus Struwe of the the Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group of European Insurance and the Occupation Pensions Authority pointed to a lack of unbiased information about pension products, which is a major risk facing consumers when investing in pension products.
"It's like the drug company prescribing your medication," panel moderator Boris Cizelj, president of the Slovenian Business and Research Association, said in calling for measures to make the market more transparent.
Shakesby admitted that Europe had a very fragmented pension fund market, caused in great part by the significant differences in pension systems among member states, which hinders competition and impedes efficiency of fund operators.
President of the Age Platform Europe NGO Marjan Sedmak said that to increase investment in pension funds, efforts must be made to rebuild people's trust in investment products in general. People have often been victims of wrong advice in the recent past, which means that efforts must be made to increase the level of protection offered to them.
Protection of investors was also examined as part of the second panel of the day dedicated to education and protection of users of financial services, which heard that regulation and suitable system of education go hand in hand.
Just as motorists take to the road only after getting their license and have signs and regulations guiding their actions, so too users of financial services must have proper education and be provided with the proper safety mechanisms in the form of market regulation to make them safe, Breda Kutin of the Slovenian Consumers' Association said.
An average consumer cannot understand the documentation that is often provided in small print when investing and lacks the knowledge to make educated decisions on investments, Kutin said, adding that providers of such services need to take greater care of designing products friendly to the consumer.
This was echoed by Leif Vindervag of the Swedish Shareholders' Association Aktiespararna, who wondered why financial products, unlike material goods, come with no product guarantee.
Patrick Armstrong of the European Securities and Markets Authority said that the EU has been giving greater attention to ensuring that investors are properly educated. Progress in this area is showing already, he added.
According to him, the responsibility for providing financial education rests on regulatory bodies and government agencies, while shareholder associations and trading institutions also have a role to play in this.
The view was shared by head of the Pan-Slovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD) Kristjan Verbič who said that education about financial services should begin in school.
Investors' Week is organised by the VZMD, a group specialising in representing small shareholders at annual general meetings, in conjunction with Eurofinuse and the World Federation of Investors.
non-governmental spheres.
Centre for eGovernance Development for South East Europe (CeGD) released publication 
