Pension systems in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) have almost 100% been modelled and run solely as Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) Defined Benefit funds for the last 80 years or so.

In the last two decades, pension funds have faced increasing challenges stemming from accelerated demographic changes, geopolitical issues, economic shifts and public crises.

As they stand today, public pension funds in several MENA countries are facing both adequacy and sustainability challenges.

As a result, many governments have initiated reform projects, some by merging existing funds, others by creating new funds, others by changing parameters and benefits of current funds, and very few have actually begun to think outside the box.

The real “to be or not to be” dilemma of pension systems in the region has been their political economy’s will to innovate and diversify pension savings beyond PAYG government pension funds.

What lies ahead amidst these changes? How can we ensure a resilient, prosperous, and sustainable future for retirees in the Arab world?

The Arab Pension & Social Insurance Conference (APSIC) brings together top Arab pension officials, board of directors, executive directors of social insurance administration, pension actuaries, labour and social protection specialists, longevity experts, pension investment directors, pension fund risk managers, IT directors, senior government directors and trade unions to exchange views and best practices on the most topical issues in the pension landscape.

This year’s themes:

• Appraising ongoing insightful pension reforms and experiments in the region aimed at securing a future-proof retirement income for citizens.
• Transforming pension management through the integration of advanced technologies, enhancing decision-making processes for greater efficiency, and improved returns
• Deploying forward-thinking investment approaches to fortify portfolios, ensuring resilience and alignment with funding needs in an ever-changing financial landscape
• Maximising profitability by balancing assets allocation and liabilities in the portfolio management process to enhance positive returns while prudently managing risk.
• Accelerating innovation to enhance pension coverage to expats/ immigrants, introduce Thrift Plans and private pensions.