Developing Annuities Markets: The Experience of Chile

Developing Annuities Markets: The Experience of Chile is part of a multicountry World Bank project analyzing the market for retirement products. Among countries that have reformed their pension systems since the early 1990s, the Chilean case has emerged as the most relevant for drawing policy lessons on the role of the private sector in the provision of retirement income for two reasons: the depth, sophistication, and efficiency of the country's retirement products market, and the fact that this market was successfully developed from scratch by a middle-income country. The book examines in detail Chile's efforts to build a sound regulatory framework for the payout phase, concluding that a market for annuities and other retirement instruments can be built from a low base, while also identifying the reform agenda that policy makers need to implement to maximize benefits for their retiring populations. "This book provides a rigorous analysis, supported by a careful data examination, of the annuity market in Chile. It should be a must-read for policy makers involved in pension reforms." Solange Bernstein, Director, Superintendency of Pension Funds, Chile"This volume offers a fascinating in-depth study of the Chilean annuity marketplace, a topic of direct interest to developing and developed nations as they prepare to design and regulate financial markets for the decumulation phase of life." Olivia S. Mitchell, Executive Director, Pension Research Council, The Wharton School.