News
Objective
Stress tests are an important supervisory tool to provide insight into the risks and vulnerabilities of the European occupational pensions sector. They contribute to the stability of the financial system and the European economy and enhance the protection of pension scheme members and beneficiaries.
The 2017 exercise is designed to assess the resilience of the European occupational pensions sector to an adverse market scenario using common methodologies. It will also analyse how IORPs transfer shocks, resulting from the impact of the adverse market scenario, to the real economy and financial markets.
Scope
The stress test is a European-wide exercise, covering both defined benefit (DB) schemes and defined contribution (DC) plans. The exercise includes all countries with material IORP sectors, exceeding EUR 500 million in assets. The relevant national supervisory authorities (NSAs) will identify and contact the respective participants.
Timeline
30 March - 13 April
| Collecting input from EU pensions stakeholders including EIOPA’s Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group
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18 May
| Launch of the occupational pensions stress test 2017
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18 May
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Workshop with participating IORPs and NSAs
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May – July
| Q&A procedure for participating IORPs
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13 July
| Deadline for submission of data to NSAs
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22 August
| Validation of submission by NSAs and submission to EIOPA
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| End-August
end-September
| Validation of submissions by EIOPA
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October-November
| Analysis of submissions and preparation of report by EIOPA jointly with NSAs
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December
| Publication of the stress test report
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Stress test specifications
18 May 2017
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18 May 2017
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18 May 2017
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18 May 2017
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Reporting templates
Questions & Answers on the Stress Test 2017
A centralised Q&A process is available until the 5 of July to support only participating IORPs in the stress test to interpret correctly the specifications and the reporting templates. For any queries related to this exercise, please fill in this template and send it to your NSA. The email addresses of the NSAs can be viewed here.
5 July 2017
| Fifth set of questions and answers |
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28 June 2017
| Fourth set of questions and answers (Outdated! Please use the updated version) |
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21 June 2017
| Third set of questions and answers (Outdated! Please use the updated version) |
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14 June 2017
| Second set of questions and answers (Outdated! Please use the updated version) |
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7 June 2017
| First set of questions and answers (Outdated! Please use the updated version)
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Supporting spreadsheets
Background documents
Working process
The exercise is conducted in close cooperation with the NSAs which are the direct contact point for the participants in the stress test.
Between 30 March and 13 April
EIOPA collected input from EU pensions stakeholders including EIOPA’s Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group on the draft stress test package. Stakeholders were asked to provide technical feedback to enhance the clarity of the specifications, questionnaires and spreadsheets as well as to identify inconsistencies. EIOPA invited the EU pensions stakeholders to discuss their feedback during a meeting on 19 April 2017 held at EIOPA’s premises.
