Client protection in pension funds

This paper examines the current principles and practices of pension fund regulation and supervision in the EU, in particular in Italy. First of all, it will be given an overview of the main approaches, secondly, the most important issues and, then, their relevance for different types of pension plans. The paper will focus on a selection of issues which are the subject of intense debate at the moment, particularly regarding the context of client protection, the EU harmonization regarding this field and the imposition of quantitative restrictions on pension fund investments,fee and cost controls.