Pension Benefit Security : A Comparison of Solvency Requirements, a Pension Guarantee Fund and Sponsor Support

Developed countries apply different security mechanisms in regulation to protect pension benefits: solvency requirements, a pension guarantee fund, and sponsor support. We compare these mechanisms for a generalized form of hybrid pension schemes. We calculate the expected log return for the beneficiaries, the shortfall probability, i.e. the likelihood of the pension payment falling below the promised level and the expected loss given shortfall. Comparing solvency requirements to a pension guarantee system or sponsor support involves trading off risk and return. Additional spending on default insurance reduces the shortfall probability and the expected loss given shortfall but also lowers the probability of high positive returns as are feasible under solvency requirements