The Market for Individual Retirement Accounts in Poland in the Context of the Implementation of Pan-European Personal Pension Product

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the opinions of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) holders in Poland based on our own research in the context of the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) implementation in Poland. The hypothesis of the article is as follows: IRA holders' satisfaction with the achieved rates of return is moderate, which makes it possible to improve this assessment in the case of the implemented PEPP. Moreover, the article presents the relationships between many parameters characterizing IRA and sociodemographic characteristics and users' satisfaction with IRA. The verification of the research hypothesis is based on empirical research conducted on a nationwide group of nearly 550 IRA holders in the CAWI online survey in September 2022. In addition, the article uses literature studies, legal acts and an analysis of market statistics in the field of voluntary forms of accumulating pension capital in Poland under 3rd pillar. The survey results indicate that there is moderate satisfaction with the financial results achieved by IRA (6,62/10 points), which translates into an advantage of critics over promoters and a negative NPS (Net Promoter Score) index of over 26. Respondents within the PEPP would like to invest in foreign and global assets, i.e. .ETFs, shares and global bonds. This may mean higher rates of return on PEPP compared to IRA in the future, which may translate into improved customer satisfaction and a better NPS ratio. It should be added that the research results have application significance because they were used when introducing the first PEPP to the Polish market under the name European Pension by the Slovak brokerage house Finax, which obtained a license from the Polish Financial Supervision Authority for this type of activity.