IPEBLA 20th Biennial Conference, Dublin: What is the ideal level of regulation of pension funds?

8 June 2026

Durham Law School Professor in Practice, Mark Grant, joined Stephanie Kalinowski, Partner in leading Canadian law firm Torys LLP and Flavio Rodrigues, Senior Partner of leading Brazilian law firm Bocater, Camargo, Costa e Silva, Rodrigues Advogados Associados in presenting a workshop exploring what may be the ideal level of regulation of pension funds, based on analysis of how the position has evolved in the UK, Canada and Brazil.

The themes explored in the workshop included:

regulation of pension funds happens in the face of ever-changing external factors, so 'real world' events often influence and shape new standards for how pension funds are required to operate under legislation and regulatory action
regulatory reform tends to happen or accelerate after isolated cases of extremely bad behaviour, often on the part of only one or a small number of individuals
this reactive process can have unintended consequences, like deterring employer companies who sponsor pension funds for their staff moving to less generous pensions arrangements or arrangements that carry fewer regulatory risks, especially connected to funding obligations and underwriting the fluctuations of asset values and liabilities to provide specific levels of pension benefits
clearly some level of regulation is needed to protect employees and consumers, but the trend in many jurisdictions has been that too much regulation and regulatory intervention can sometimes lead to overall worse outcomes for the public. A more measured and proportionate reaction to isolated failures may be a better way to proceed.