International Pensions

An international pension plan (or an international savings plan) typically provides benefits for internationally mobile employees of a multinational employer. They are:

• an elegant and tax efficient way to provide retirement savings benefits for employees that might otherwise have little or no formal retirement provision due to their working location or their mobile lifestyle
• they can be used to provide retirement benefits for local employees in countries with inadequate or less effective local options because of under developed markets for local pensions
• they are often used to fund in advance for mandatory end-of-service payments, or to enhance them. Such plans serve as a centralised fund in a stable currency regardless of where employees are based.

Individual international pension plans have very similar aims to employer arrangements but have no employer involved.