Many governments are moving in the direction of reducing benefits relative to contributions to public pension schemes, reducing the ratio of the post-retirement income to the net pre-retirement income. Mandatory private pensions also operate as substitutes for part of the public pension provision, but in some countries, mandatory private pension saving has been added on top of existing public plans.
For instance, the European System of Central Banks has to act in accordance with the principle of an open market economy with free competition, according to its Statute. [2] Suppressing private sector institutions that offer payment solutions would not fit into this concept. Nevertheless, it will also take some thinking out of the box by private players to develop entirely new solutions from scratch.