Supplementary pensions: an opportunity not to be missed

An article by Antonello Di Mascio, Chief Research Officer, and Francesco Minelli, Senior Advisor Insurance & Wealth Management, Gruppo Excellence, for the October 2026 issue of the monthly magazine The Signal

The revolution is dated 1 July 2026. From that day, private-sector workers face a decision that will affect their retirement future. For many, it is the first real financial choice of their lives. The new legislation gives newly hired employees 60 days to decide where to allocate their severance pay (TFR); in the absence of an explicit choice, they are automatically enrolled in the collective pension scheme provided for under the agreements applicable within their company. The reform also broadens the options for using accumulated pension savings and strengthens tax incentives for long-term participation. This is therefore more than a simple procedural change: it creates a new moment of truth in the financial lives of millions of workers (source: Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, Changes introduced by the 2026 Budget Law concerning supplementary pensions, effective from 1 July, June 2026).

How many people will be called upon to choose? There is still no official estimate of the individual workers actually involved, partly because the same person may be hired more than once during the year and some categories are excluded. But the scale is clear: in the first half of 2025 alone, private-sector employers made 4.253 million hires. The potential scope therefore encompasses several million employment relationships each year (source: INPS, Labour Market Observatory: data referring to June 2025 and September 2025).

The TFR decision becomes a new opportunity for advice

For banks, financial adviser networks and insurance agency networks, this is a major opportunity, provided they do not reduce it to a product campaign. Automatic allocation will not necessarily channel TFR into open pension funds or individual pension plans (PIPs) distributed by intermediaries: the default destination will be the collective scheme provided for under the employment contract. Supplementary pension provision is no longer merely a product to sell, but a point of engagement with the client, in which guidance, planning and advice take on decisive value. Indeed, that value lies in the ability to help individuals understand, compare and plan. For banks, this new pension-related event can become part of financial onboarding. The first salary payment, relationships with corporate clients, and employee welfare and payroll services can trigger a check-up linking TFR, the expected state pension, employer contributions, tax benefits and the capacity to save. Pension provision thus becomes a gateway to a long-term relationship: regular inflows, advice, protection and, later, retirement income management. For financial adviser networks, it is an opportunity to truly engage with younger generations. Talking to a thirty-year-old about retirement in the abstract is difficult; talking about a decision they must make within 60 days is much more concrete. This can give rise to a regular “pension review”, simple and recognisable, capable of supporting clients as their income, family and wealth grow. It is not just about acquiring a young client today, but about developing tomorrow’s affluent and private banking client. For insurance agents, pension provision can become the natural bridge between accumulation and protection. A pension plan is fragile if it does not safeguard the ability to keep contributing to it. Premature death, disability, loss of income, critical illness or loss of self-sufficiency can interrupt the journey before its destination is reached. Pension provision, term life insurance (TCM), long-term care (LTC), health and personal accident insurance should be offered as components of a single financial security plan, rather than as separate products. Starting early is crucial because time does more of the work than sacrifices made later in life. Purely by way of illustration, €100 a month invested until age 67 at an annual return of 3% would grow to approximately €79,000 if contributions began at age 30, and approximately €37,000 if they began at age 45. This is not a promise of returns, but an illustration of a principle: fifteen years of time can be worth more than many catch-up contributions made at the last moment.

Italy can close its pension provision gap

Other countries clearly point the way. In the United Kingdom, where automatic enrolment was introduced in 2012, 89% of eligible employees, equivalent to 21.7 million people, were participating in a workplace pension in 2024. In Australia, the mandatory employer pension contribution reached 12% of pay in July 2025. The OECD also notes that the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden have mandatory or quasi-mandatory occupational pension systems alongside the state pension (source: Department for Work and Pensions (GOV.UK), Workplace pension participation and savings trends of eligible employees: 2009 to 2024, August 2025). Italy starts from a position of still-incomplete coverage: at the end of 2025, members of supplementary pension schemes represented 39.9% of the labour force; among those under 35, the rate was just 20.8% (source: COVIP, Annual Report 2025 – Chairman’s Remarks, June 2026).

From product to a protection and longevity plan

The issue, however, is not just accumulation. It is preparing for longevity. Living longer means funding more years of retirement, meeting healthcare and care costs, and deciding how to turn wealth into income without depleting it too soon. This is why banks, advisers and agents need a true Protection & Longevity Hub: an integrated advisory model bringing together pension and tax simulations, retirement income gap analysis, family protection, the temporary early supplementary pension annuity (RITA), decumulation and regular plan reviews. The new legislation can close part of this gap, but automatic enrolment alone is not enough. The real opportunity lies in turning tacit consent into an informed choice, and an informed choice into a lifelong journey. Those who can do this will do more than simply sell a pension fund: they will help a generation build, protect and make better use of its future.