The Pension Funds’ Investment Regulation at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Comparative Analysis of Approaches of the USA, Canada, and the EU-15 Countries

Abstract

The article considers the main trends in the EU-15 countries, the USA, and Canada with regard to the current approaches to the pension funds’ investment activities regulation. This countries’ choice is caused by the relevant static information availability, as well as by the private pension funds’ growing role in this group and the diversity of the investment activity funds forms. The difference between the growth rate of the average pension funds and the GDP in a certain country has the special attention because the leading indicators of the funds volume growth, attracted by the pension systems compared with the economy growth as a whole, determine the possibility of higher payments to pensioners and also allows to increase the pension plans coverage of other population groups. The article deals with the legal aspects of the pension funds regulation with respect to their investment strategies, and contains a comparative analysis between the countries.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s4p155