The centrepiece of the European Commssion’s programme is the Capital Markets Union – a plan to make Europe’s economy less reliant on bank finance – particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The NAPF’s response strongly supports the EC’s vision of the ‘CMU’. Pension funds – and their members - have much to gain from a CMU that makes it easier to invest for the long term and across borders.

The NAPF argues that pension funds are – together with banks, fund managers and insurance companies – the EU’s key institutional investors and providers of capital. The NAPF’s members have more than €1.1 trillion of assets invested across the global economy – including at least €400 billion across Europe. And, of course, much of the insurers long-term investment is drawn from pension funds.

It is essential that policies to develop the Capital Markets Union are seen through the prism of long-term institutional investors such as pension funds. Policy-makers should ensure that investment opportunities provided by governments or the EC offer the kind of risks and returns required by pension funds as they look to meet their liabilities to pay pensions.