With the end of 2025 fast approaching, Natalie Tuck looks back at some of the biggest and most defining stories from the European pensions sector this year


Auto-enrolment in Ireland

With the Irish government’s auto-enrolment (AE) scheme set to launch on 1 January 2026, several steps have been taken this year to make the scheme a reality.

After the Department for Social Protection (DSP) appointed Tata Consultancy Services to run the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA) at the end of 2024, the year began with the investment management tender in March.

Irish Life Investment Managers, Amundi and BlackRock were announced as the successful candidates in May.

In the same month, however, the scheme faced a further setback when the Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary, announced a three-month delay to the scheme – from 30 September 2025 to 1 January 2026 – so that it could “align with the tax year”.

Since then, the NAERSA management has been established, and the government has launched the employer portal for MyFutureFund.

However, there is currently a conflict between the government and the wider pensions industry, as the government recently announced its plans to introduce minimum contribution rates for occupational pension schemes, ahead of the launch of its AE scheme.

The Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF) has urged the government to consult on these plans before finalising anything.

Dutch pension transition

The Dutch pension reforms, legislated in the Future Pensions Act (Wtp), will see all schemes transfer from a defined benefit (DB) style scheme to a defined contribution (DC) scheme.

The year started strongly as Stichting Beroepspensioenfonds Loodsen, the Dutch pension fund for pilots, became the first pension fund to transition to the new Dutch pension system.

This was followed by several other funds.

However, later in January, the reform was thrown into uncertainty when the Dutch political party, New Social Contract (NSC), proposed an amendment to the Wtp. At the time, this received backlash from the Dutch Federation of Pension Funds (Pensioenfederartie), which said it was “deeply dismayed” by the proposal.

After a series of amendments and criticism from several pension funds, the proposal was rejected in May 2025. Since then, work on the transition has continued, but many schemes have announced delays to their original transition date, with the peak of the transition now expected in 2027, rather than 2026.

Indeed, Aon Netherlands director wealth, Frank Driessen, said administrators, in particular, are struggling to have the systems ready on time to transition.

SNS Reeal became the final scheme of the year to confirm a delay to its transition date due to capacity issues at its administrator, Blue Sky Group.

Iceland pension consolidation

News of mergers between Icelandic pension funds dominated the latter half of 2025.

For example, in September, Lífsverk and Almenni signed a merger agreement to create an ISK 667bn fund, set to take effect on 1 January 2026.

It follows a long-term trend of consolidation in the Icelandic market. A recent report published by the Central Bank of Iceland noted that 96 funds operated in 1980 but just 21 remain.

Since then, the Akureyri Employees' Pension Fund (LSA) and Brú Pension Fund have confirmed that the two funds merged in January 2025 following board approval,

A new department in Brú was created for LSA, known as Division E. As a result, the assets and liabilities of LSA are completely separate from the other assets and liabilities of the fund.

In addition, the Frjálsi Pension Fund and the Pension Fund of the Icelandic Dental Association (LTFÍ) have signed an agreement to merge the pension funds. Under the agreement, Frjálsi will take over all LTFÍ’s assets and liabilities from 31 December 2025. It will also start receiving premiums and paying pensions to LTFÍ’s members.

Frjálsi then announced that it had signed a letter of intent to begin formal discussions on merging with the Farmers' Pension Fund (LSB).


Consolidation of Swedish AP funds

After mooting the idea in mid-2024, the Swedish government confirmed in February that it would push ahead with plans to reduce the number of AP funds and to improve the competence requirements for AP fund boards.

As part of the reforms, AP6 is set to be merged with AP2, which will remain in Gothenburg. In addition, the assets and operations of AP1 will also be transferred in equal parts to AP3 and AP4.

Special investigators were appointed to assist with the merger but the process has not come without challenges.

Indeed, in October, it was revealed that AP2 and AP6 were at odds over the process of integration ahead of the funds’ merger.

With plans now finalised, the two ceding funds published their final ever results in December. Sweden’s AP6 concluded its operations after having contributed SEK 72.5bn to the pension system since its inception in 1996.

Meanwhile, AP1 bowed out with just over SEK 500m in assets under management.


IORP II review and PEPP reform

After much anticipation, November saw the European Commission adopt a pension package, confirming changes to the IORP II Directive and the pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) regulation.

The pension package aims to boost supplementary pension coverage across Europe.

In addition to proposed updates to EU pension legislation, the commission has also made a series of recommendations for member states to adopt, such as pension tracking systems, pension dashboards, and auto-enrolment into supplementary pension schemes.

While these three policies have been mooted previously, the commission has now confirmed that it officially recommends member states adopt these initiatives.

The EC will monitor the implementation of the recommendations at the national level through several mechanisms, including the European Semester. It intends to promote the exchange of experiences and best practices between member states.

In addition to these recommendations, the IORP II Directive will be amended as the commission stated that many schemes remain too small to diversify their investments and deliver optimal outcomes for savers.

Furthermore, legislative changes to the PEPP regulation will “remove existing requirements and design features that have hampered the take-up of the PEPP”, the commission said, while at the same time “continuing to ensure a high level of consumer protection”.

UK Pension Schemes Bill

Published in June this year, the UK's Pension Schemes Bill provided further insight into the government’s upcoming reforms, including its consolidation plans.

These include introducing rules to create multi-employer defined contribution (DC) scheme megafunds, consolidating the LGPS with assets to be held in six pools and consolidating pension pots worth £1,000 or less into one pension scheme.

Additionally, the bill outlined plans to introduce a value-for-money framework, increase flexibility for defined benefit (DB) schemes to release surplus funds and simplify retirement choices by requiring all schemes to provide default pathways for income in retirement, as well as other reforms.

The bill passed through its first and second readings in the House of Commons (HoC) as well as the committee stage in September. Several amendments were proposed, including calls to extend the scope of the bill in certain areas, abolish the PPF admin levy, address pre-1997 indexation issues, and make changes to the proposed reserve power. The bill had its final stage in the HoC in early December.

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