Welcome to Issue 3, 2010, of Retirement, Risk & Finance Perspective, Mercer's home for thought-provoking insights on retirement and pension issues facing multinational companies.

In this issue:

Retirement plan design: What’s next?

With retirement systems around the world under severe stresses, some fresh thinking is needed to address the problems. Mercer has developed a comprehensive global retirement design in response to this crisis, and in this article we explain the key issues employers can and should address now.

Bob Moreen

Global pension risk strategy – Part 2

Managing pension risk is a key issue for multinationals - an imperative driven home during the recent financial crisis. In this second article of our two-part series, we examine how plans have fared in a number of countries during this tumultuous time and take a look at some innovative de-risking frameworks that companies are now implementing.

Isabelle Sfeir

Pan-European pensions: A mid-2010 update

While the EU goal of providing pan-European pensions is admirable and necessary, the reality is that little progress has been made – until now. Here we take a look at Mercer’s timeline for these pensions and why there is good news on the horizon.

Craig R. Burnett

Pension horizon: Update on China

In December 2009, the State Administration of Taxation clarified the income tax treatment of enterprise annuities (EAs). However, a recent survey reveals that many companies once considering offering these funds are now exploring other options because EAs lack sufficient tax advantage.

Jessica Chen

Multinationals are increasingly managing their DC schemes at the regional and global levels. In this video we discuss plan management approaches in EMEA and Asia.

Featuring:

• Craig Burnett, Defined Contribution Leader, EMEA
• Ben Facer, Retirement, Risk and Finance Leader, ASEAN
• Tim Burggraaf, European DC Leadership Group

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View other videos in this series

Upcoming coverage:

In our next issue, we will develop some detailed, award-winning ideas on making retirement more affordable, and also cover some trends in the localization of terms and conditions for expatriates, based on our review of their experiences in China.

Retirement, Risk & Finance Perspective is intended to stimulate debate around the challenges in designing and developing a global retirement benefits strategy. You are welcome to join the debate; contact us with any comments or questions.