"Should the EU and its Member States fail to take action quickly and bring about changes, they risk the dismantling of the exemplary social models Europe takes so much pride in. The pension expectation of millions of Europeans would be disappointed." In clear words, Pehr Gyllenhammar, Chairman of the European Financial Services Round Table (EFR), urges politicians to take action with regard to a single European market for pensions systems.

The latest EFR report provides specific recommendations on implementation of this market. The EFR consists of the CEOs and board members of leading banks and insurance companies in Europe; the report was drawn up by pension experts from the member companies.

According to the report, it is necessary, among other things, to standardize taxation of the contributions to pensions schemes and the payment of pension benefits across Europe, to increase the mobility of those entitled to a pension, to increase the security of pension funds, and to ensure higher transparency over pension claims and the general conditions for pension systems.

The report indicates that with the help of these measures, it would be possible to establish a single European market for pension systems that was able to support private pension schemes and thus head off a collapse of the European pension systems. Furthermore, a closer integration of the pension market would significantly increase European citizens' freedom of movement. The differences between national pension systems created unjustifiable barriers and placed high tax burdens on people who change their place of work or residence.

Yet the integrated European pension market is not the only topic of the EFR report: in addition, it also includes the warning that many people are not aware of financial threats to their future. They had not realized that the gap between the retirement income they expect and the benefit potential of government pension systems had widened and was still getting wider.

The EFR was founded in 2001 by numerous European companies to provide the industry with a single voice for all issues in European policy relating to financial services. Apart from Allianz, its members include Munich Re, Assicurazioni Generali, Barclays, and Deutsche Bank.