Governance of Moroccan Pension Funds
An Empirical Assessment of Board Effectiveness
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23882/emss25231Keywords:
Pension funds, Board effectiveness, Corporate governance, Agency problemsAbstract
In the context of global population ageing and increasing financial pressures on pension systems, the governance of pension funds has become a critical lever for ensuring their sustainability and performance. In Morocco, this issue takes on particular significance within a framework characterized by institutional plurality and recurrent deficiencies observed in the management of certain funds. Within this perspective, the present study examines the effectiveness of the boards of directors of Morocco’s main pension funds by analyzing the factors that may influence it.
The objective is to empirically assess how the structural, demographic, and financial characteristics of these funds affect the quality of governance of their boards. To this end, an original composite index — the Governance Index of Moroccan Pension Funds (IGCM) — was developed, encompassing three dimensions: integrity, commitment, and competence. The empirical analysis is based on a 20-year panel dataset (2000–2020) covering four major pension funds and estimated through linear regression models.
The results indicate that fund size, legal status, internal investment management, and financial soundness are significantly associated with higher levels of governance quality. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on pension fund governance in emerging economies by proposing a rigorous analytical framework and a transferable measurement tool.
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