EIOPA IORP stress test

EIOPA's stress tests of institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs) are run across the European Economic Area, on the basis of Article 32 of Regulation (EU) No 1094/2010. The first was launched on May 11, 2015 and published in January 2016; the 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2025 exercises followed, first every two years, then every three. Each exercise starts from a year-end balance sheet, applies an adverse scenario and measures two things: the deficit and funding ratio of defined benefit schemes, and the loss of value in accounts in defined contribution schemes. For defined benefit schemes, EIOPA runs the numbers twice, under each country's own framework and under a common methodology, the heir to the holistic balance sheet that PensionsEurope fought because it puts sponsor support and benefit reduction mechanisms on the balance sheet. In 2019, across 176 IORPs from 19 countries, without the UK, the sample started from a 41 billion euro deficit, or 4% of liabilities; the scenario pushed it to 216 billion under the common methodology, against 180 billion under national rules, and would have triggered 173 billion in benefit reductions and 49 billion in sponsor support. The same exercise asked ESG questions for the first time. In 2022, the test was entirely climate-based, on a disorderly transition: 187 IORPs from 18 countries, a 12.9% drop in assets, about 255 billion euros of valuation losses. In 2025, EIOPA tested liquidity and the margin calls on interest rate and currency hedges; the report, published on December 16, 2025, found sufficient buffers in aggregate while confirming the sector's vulnerability to margin calls. None of these tests has a pass mark. They feed recommendations to national authorities, with no capital requirement attached.