Sampsa Kataja has proposed a single statuary pension fund in place of having Ilmarinen, Varma, Keva, etc. The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) that supports very high salaries for the pension fund bosses has said that concentration will reduce diversification.
Both Singapore and Norway (both the comparable to Finland in population size) have single pension funds and do not claim any lack of diversification because they employ international fund managers at costs well below what Finnish pension funds pay. There would be a huge cost savings by consolidating all Finnish pension companies.
Furthermore, I would like to see how many Finnish fund bosses would be employed at the same salaries abroad if they could even find work in London, or in any other larger financial center. In fact according to EK’s logic some, if not many, should have moved already because salary levels are higher in these larger centers. Readers could list out anyone they know who has done this because I cannot recall a single name!
Too many pension funds, cost duplication and over-sized salaries
30 november 2013