Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 15 December 2016

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection

Overview of Pensions: Discussion

10:00 am

Mr. Robert Nicholson:

Yes. In terms of moral investment, different people have different ideas about different investments, whether it is in cigarette or arms companies or in states whose regimes one might not support. That is generally dealt with in legislative provision. They give the kind of marching orders to trustees about how they operate.

Whatever system is developed, it will need significant economies of scale. Efforts should be made to get tens and hundreds of thousands into the same environment rather than into many different schemes. Default investment products mean individuals effectively do not make a choice. They will know that if they do not make an active choice, the State has set appropriate parameters for investment products for them. Generally, in international systems, 90% of people go into default investment products. They do not make a decision but are put into them. The design and trust around that are crucial