Retirement & Pension Management Industry Profile

Entities in this industry include funds, plans, and other programs that provide retirement income benefits for an organization's employees or members. Major retirement plans include the California Public Employees' Retirement System, the California State Teachers' Retirement System, the Federal Retirement Thrift Savings Plan, and the New York State Common Retirement Fund (all US-based). Outside the US, major funds include the Central Provident Fund (Singapore), Government Employees Pension Fund (South Africa), Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Canada), and Stichting Pensioenfonds (Netherlands).

Countries with the largest pension funds include the US, the UK, Australia, and Netherlands, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Because they can control extremely large amounts of capital, pension funds may represent the largest institutional investors in many nations.

About 25,000 US private-sector pension plans are insured, while US retirement entitlements total around $35 trillion, according to Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is affected by the global economic conditions and demographic trends. The profitability of individual companies depends on investment expertise. Large companies have economies of scale in operations. Small companies can compete effectively by specializing in desirable sectors and by producing higher investment returns.

Mutual fund management companies may also handle management of retirement funds through benefits outsourcing and retirement planning services, and may be considered competitors.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Major retirement products include defined benefit (DB) plans and defined contribution (DC) plans. In a DB plan, an ...