Retirement income insecurity is a serious problem for many Asian countries. With dwindling working-age populations, many markets might need to roll out various third-pillar products and schemes to encourage voluntary retirement savings.

Of the private or retail retirement markets in Asia ex-Japan, China has been the most active recently. In April 2022, China launched its third-pillar private pension scheme, allowing participants to invest in multiple pension investment products, including deposits, bank wealth management products, mutual funds, and other financial products through individual accounts.

This is creating opportunities for diverse financial services providers, including fund managers. More importantly, the success of these efforts could set an example of how other markets can provide retirement security by opening up their private retirement markets to more schemes, products, and providers.

Cerulli’s latest report, Asian Retirement Markets 2022—Weaving Stable Safety Nets, assesses the retirement landscape in Australia, Japan, North Asian, and Southeast Asian markets. As the region faces a fast-aging population, Cerulli believes there are opportunities for asset managers to offer unique propositions to pension funds or the under-developed third pillar to help fill the retirement income gap and ensure asset sustainability for future payouts.