September 2017

Bolivia. El Gobierno trabaja propuesta para mejorar la rentabilidad de las AFP

La baja rentabilidad de las inversiones realizadas por las Administradoras de Fondo de Pensiones (AFP) en Bolivia, que bordea el 3,6%, preocupa al Gobierno, y el ministro de Economías y Finanzas, Mario Guillén, anunció un nuevo reglamento para mejorar las condiciones de inversión. “El tema de rentabilidad nos preocupa y estamos trabajando, pero lastimosamente cuando se incluye un tinte político hacia las políticas de pensiones se genera un perjuicio al trabajador. Habíamos pensado en generar un fondo de inversión para...

Ecuador. IESS cambió el ­método de cálculo para las pensiones

El Consejo Directivo del Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social (IESS) modificó la fórmula matemática utilizada para el cálculo de las pensiones. Este cambio se efectuó mediante Resolución C.D. 554 del IESS, que ­entró en vigencia el pasado 4 de agosto de 2017. La medida, según el IESS, se tomó para evitar incrementos injustificados en los últimos meses de aportación de un afiliado, que elevaban el monto de pensión que recibiría. Richard Espinosa, presidente del Consejo Directivo del IESS, explicó que...

For Asia’s rapidly aging populations, innovation and forward-thinking policies drive retirement security

The quickening pace of aging in Asia -- a region with more than half the world's population over 60 -- has urgent implications for the region's families, retirees, pensions and policy makers. "Given Asia's aging populations, retirement challenges are particularly acute in the region," said Professor David Blake, director of the Pensions Institute at London's Cass Business School. "Solutions require urgent action from both businesses and individuals, and governments need to implement policies that support this action." With falling birth rates and declining death rates, Asia's societies face...

Ukraine Pension Reform Changes Worry World Bank, IMF

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are concerned about amendments to pending pension reform legislation needed to unlock further funding under a $17.5 billion (£12.92 billion) IMF programme, the World Bank's Ukraine director said on Friday. A draft law to put the buckling pension system on a sustainable footing passed a first reading in parliament in July, but the bill has been modified with scores of amendments ahead of a second round of voting. "The revised draft law presented...

Biggest Africa Fund Manager May See Funds Pulled by Unions

Africa’s biggest fund manager may be dumped by a labor federation representing 230,000 South African state workers because it’s concerned that the funds of its members may be used to bail out mismanaged state-owned companies. The Federation of Unions of South Africa, the country’s second-largest labor union grouping, is considering replacing the state-owned Public Investment Corp. with privately owned fund managers to oversee the pension funds of the state workers, including nurses and teachers, that it represents. “There is nothing in...

Ireland. Government to introduce auto-enrolment pension scheme for all workers

Leo Varadkar used a speech to the employer's group IBEC tonight to announce the centrepiece of an upcoming national pension plan. He told the audience that two-thirds of private sector workers in Ireland have no pension, warning that the time bomb must be addressed now. “This issue has been long-fingered for too long and now that the economy is recovering strongly we must act decisively and we will publish a five year road-map for pension reform before the end of the...

España. El Gobierno, obligado a pedir un crédito urgente de 10.000 millones para pagar a los pensionistas

Medida de urgencia del Gobierno para garantizar el cobro de la pensión a los 9 millones de jubilados. Los Presupuestos Generales del Estado de 2018 incluirán un nuevo crédito del Estado a la Seguridad Social. Un “balón de oxígeno” que permita a Empleo hacer frente a todas las mensualidades del próximo año y a las dos pagas extra. Según ha podido saber El Confidencial Digital, de fuentes de la cúpula económica del Gobierno, con esta “línea de crédito extraordinaria” Moncloa...

UK watchdog to investigate conflicts of interest among pension fund advisers

Britain's competitions watchdog will look into the advice given by consultants to pension schemes and other institutions managing over 1.6 trillion pounds ($2.2 trillion) of funds, to see if there are conflicts of interest, it said on Thursday. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will assess whether investment consultants offer a poor level of service and whether difficulties comparing and switching consultants provide little incentive for them to compete for customers. In addition, it will investigate if there are barriers to...

El Salvador enfrenta nuevo riesgo de impago

La situación vivida hace un año vuelve a repetirse. El Gobierno advirtió ayer que depende de una emisión de US$260 millones en bonos para pagar el servicio de la deuda de pensiones que vence en octubre, y los subsidios a la energía eléctrica y el gas propano. “No, no los tengo y esa es la urgencia”, dijo ayer el ministro de Hacienda, Carlos Cáceres, en una entrevista televisiva Frente a frente, sobre los US$91 millones en Certificados de Inversión Previsional (CIP) que...

Kazakh pension scandals stir criticism of government

Media trainer Anara Kuandikova, 29, is typical of the generation of post-independence professionals who have most to lose if anything goes wrong with oil-rich Kazakhstan's scandal-struck Unified Pension Fund. "I still see my pension contributions as a real investment in my future," said Kuandikova, who works in Astana and pays a tenth of her $600 monthly salary -- one-and-a-half times the national average wage -- into the fund. "But the more negative information you hear, the more you begin to...