ECCT Special Lunch

Get ready for a happy retirement

Establishing a sustainable and adequate pension environment in Taiwan

Guest speaker: Francine Wu, Chairperson, Pension Fund Association, R.O.C / 中華民國退休基金協會 巫慧燕理事長Date & Time: Wednesday, 13 March 2024, 12:00-14:00
Venue:  2F, the Residence, Grand Hyatt Taipei / 台北君悅酒店2樓凱寓
Address: 2, Songshou Road, Xinyi District, Taipei / 台北市信義區松壽路2號

Taiwan’s rapidly ageing population is putting increasing strain on the nation’s public pension funds. The Pension Fund Association of the Republic of China has called on the government to initiate transformational reforms to provide the younger generation with a better living standard and a prosperous retirement life. The association emphasizes that establishing financial sustainability, supporting sustainable investment, and digital sustainable transformation are the three major directions necessary for the sustainable transformation of the pension system and that adding "selectivity" and "complementarity" to the three-tier pension structure is expected to solve Taiwan's retirement crisis.

Reforms are already underway. Taiwan’s public pension fund industry is on track to steadily transition away from defined benefit (DB) plans towards defined contribution (DC) schemes. The Bureau of Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) is in the process of selecting design portfolios of different risk profiles for its new DC scheme, which came into effect in July 2023 for new civil servants and public education employee members. The scheme will adopt a global approach and construct investment portfolios through multi-asset allocation to diversify risks. The scheme will have a personalised fund management platform that will allow members to select investment options (portfolio types) based on their risk appetite (conservative, stable or aggressive).

There are growing expectations that Taiwan's largest pension body, the Bureau of Labor Funds (BLF), may also signal a move towards member choice plans to ease operational pressures under the next administration. But will the adoption of member choice schemes be enough to create a healthy and sustainable pension environment in Taiwan? What other reforms and incentives are needed? What roles should the public and private sector play? Our guest speaker will explain the current situation, trends and challenges facing Taiwan’s pension environment.

Among other topics, she will discuss:

• Legislative reforms necessary to put Taiwan’s pension system on a sustainable and healthy track.
• How to strengthen the resilience, sustainability and performance of pension funds.
• How companies can fulfil their corporate social responsibilities and retain talent through employee pension funds.
• Incentives to encourage workers to set aside larger portions of their income for retirement.

About the speaker
Francine Wu was formerly the Chairman of Schroders Investment Management (Taiwan). She began her career with Schroders in 1995 & worked as the Taiwan Country Head from 2001 to 2019. In addition to her executive role at Schroders, Francine was previously an Executive Director of the ECCT and Co-Chair of the chamber’s Asset Management Committee. In other roles, she was Chair of the Sustainability Development Committee, Securities Investment Trust & Consulting Association of the ROC (SITCA), Board Member of Pension Fund Association, ROC (PFA), Member of Globalization Development Committee, Securities & Futures Institute (SFI), Member of Asset Management Talent Development & Industry Development Committee, Securities & Futures Institute (SFI) and Board Member of the Buddhist Lotus Hospice Care Foundation. Previously she was a Board Member of SITCA and Vice Chairman of the Pension Fund Association. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Azusa Pacific University (USA) and bachelor’s degree in International Trade from Tunghai University, Taiwan.

Cost: NT$1800 for members and NT$ 2600 for members' guest(s) 

To cancel without penalty, written cancellations must be received 2 days before the event.

Contact: Jill Fong Tel: 2740-0236 ext. 222 / jill.fong@ecct.com.tw