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The guidelines cover the following topics:  

  • Goals: the pension supervisory authority should have clear and well-defined strategic supervisory goals for the use of intervention, enforcement and sanction powers
  • Powers:the pension supervisory authority should have adequate intervention, enforcement and sanction powers to fulfil its supervisory duties and responsibilities
  • Decision making process:when a potential or actual breach of legislation or standards is identified, a well defined decision making process should be in place and followed
  • Consistency of decisions:the actions of the pension supervisory authority should be consistent, following well documented procedures
  • Proportionality and escalation of response:the response of the pension supervisory authority should be proportional to the risks being examined, and should be escalated appropriately to achieve the desired regulatory objectives
  • Notification of Corrective actions:a self-correction mechanism by pension funds may be allowed for minor transgressions, taking account of the nature, scale and complexity of the risks involved.
  • Outsourcing activities: supervisory authorities should be able to outsource some supporting activities to other supervisory authorities or external professionals, or to secondee staff
  • Coordination:where the pension market is regulated and supervised by more than one authority, an inter-agency coordination mechanism should be in place.
  • Information disclosure: a transparent information disclosure mechanism should be in place.
  • Appeals mechanism:a sound appeals mechanism should allow supervised entities to challenge decisions of the supervisory authority.