Annual Meeting International Sessions

The EU pay transparency directive is commonly viewed as a compliance requirement. Yet its most lasting effects will be felt in retirement adequacy and lifetime benefit outcomes. This session examines how greater transparency in pay structures, a job architecture, and career progression directly influences pension accrual, employer contributions, and insured benefit over time. This session connects day-to-day pay decisions with long-term realities, highlighting how small differences compound into significant pension and benefit gaps. Panelists will explore how transparency requirements interact with different pension designs and expose structural inequalities embedded in legacy rewards programs.

Retirement systems reflect cultural attitudes toward risk, family responsibility, and the role of the state as much as they do financial design. This session examines how different societies have developed retirement frameworks – from conservative capital focused systems to models that rely on family structures or public welfare – and what choices mean for participant outcomes. This session offers a balanced perspective on aligning retirement design with both financial efficiency and social reality.

There have been important governance changes in Canada in the fall of 2024 with regard to the management of defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans. The changes provide revised guidance to employers and require careful attention to how plan managers carry out their oversight responsibilities. This session will include a practicing pension consultant who consults with defined contribution clients on this important subject. Then we will hear from a client in Canada who has successfully implemented the changes and the challenges faced and ways they were overcome. Expect to hear very practical advice not only for Canadian plans but also general governance ideas that have global applicability.

Interactive session where participants will work through a number of real-world scenarios.