In what must have been a slow day for pension news, a  scan of the trade press reveals that Britain has dropped a place in some league table I didn’t know existed.

The report is not summarised by a headline that grabs attention but tells us very little. This presumably from a press release that accompanied the report which doesn’t get a link

The United Kingdom is now ranked in 15th place on the Natixis Investment Managers global retirement index, falling one place from 2025.

The accompanying Natixis report noted that retirement security is coming under intensifying pressure globally due to rapidly ageing populations, record public debt and persistent inflation.

In addition to financial measures, the index assesses healthcare access and cost, climate, governance and overall population wellbeing. Rankings are based on performance indicators across finances in retirement, material wellbeing, health, and quality of life.

Norway and Ireland lead this year’s index in first and second place respectively for the second consecutive year.

League tables grab attention but the report itself is very predictable , claiming that Britain is not doing what an investment manager wants – to use its services.

Andrew Benton, head of northern Europe at Natixis IM, says: “This year’s Index reinforces the urgency for outdated retirement systems to evolve and modernise, adapting to longer lives and changing work patterns.

“Policy reform can help move people from retirement saving to retirement investing, improving the odds of retirement security. Whilst modernising policy can improve the chance of retirement security, individuals must also take ownership of their retirement journey, saving now and consistently. Every year of delay increases the pressure on the years that remain.”

What lies behind this call for policy reform appears to be a concern by individuals the world over that they are not being provided for collectively and need to make their own way home.

Despite the claims to have comprehensively examined the security of these nation’s populations, the conclusion from the report is consistent with the calls from all in financial services which is for the state to outsource the business of retirement welfare to investment managers. Three reports are offered

The upshot of Natixis’s research is very simple and is summed up by this conclusion

Together, these three forces reveal how retirement policy is evolving to meet the realities of a modern workforce. The goal is simple: Improve the odds of retirement success by helping more people save, helping them save earlier, and helping those savings work harder over time.

Much of the policy work happening is aimed directly at the biggest retirement fears for investors worldwide: not having enough money to enjoy their retirement (40%), getting out from under the inflation that’s killing retirement dreams, concerns over potential benefit shortfalls (33%), and never saving enough to retire (25%).

Are these messages getting through to the British public? Do we clamour to rise up the league table and beat Ireland which sits at the top. Who is supposed to act upon this call I do not know , but I am certain anyone who follows such banal conclusions must either work for Natixis or nearby in the financial centres of the countries quoted.

There is a global insecurity around growing old? It has increased markedly over these last 10 years, the investment fraternity can put things right if we give them our money – really?