February 2026

EU looks to pensions and capital markets to unlock private funding for defence and tech

EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, 17 February 2026, are again returning to an old problem with new urgency: how to persuade Europeans to move more of their household savings out of bank deposits and into longer-term investment, and how to do so across borders in a fragmented financial system. The discussion sits under the European Commission’s “Savings and Investments Union” (SIU) banner, which is presented as the successor framework to the long-running Capital Markets Union project. In...

UK. Industry urged to ‘break cycle of failed ideas’ on pensions adequacy

The pensions industry risks “sleepwalking into another generation of under-saving” unless it experiments with new approaches to member engagement, People's Pension has warned. The master trust argued that traditional, well-intentioned efforts to boost pensions adequacy had delivered limited success in recent years and called on the industry to support bolder, more innovative engagement strategies. In particular, the scheme urged greater focus on Generation Z, which it identified as the cohort most likely to opt out of pensions but with the longest...

Kenya. RBA Cracks Down on KSh72bn in Unpaid Pension Contributions with Stricter Penalties

The Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) has launched a tough new drive to recover more than KSh72 billion in unpaid pension contributions, introducing stricter penalties and enforcement measures aimed at institutions that have deducted retirement deductions from workers’ pay but failed to remit them to pension schemes. The crackdown responds to a sharp increase in unremitted pension contributions, a problem that has eroded confidence in Kenya’s retirement benefits system and left millions of contributors at risk. RBA data show that...

Brain expert recommends learning new skills, taking on new challenges for healthy aging

When her husband of more than half a century died Maureen Caraco was left with a gaping hole in her life. Despite being in her early 80s and struggling to navigate her grief, she enrolled in a law degree. "I was pretty much at a loss as to what to do," Ms Caraco said. "It was really fantastic going to university, being with people who had the same purpose in life and the same interest, and I just felt so at home...

January 2026

Venezuela: salarios y pensiones sin aumento por casi cuatro años

Provea, la organización de derechos humanos más antigua del país, denunció que Venezuela atraviesa el lapso más prolongado sin incrementos al salario mínimo en los últimos 29 años. Según el monitoreo de esta ONG, se acumulan tres años y diez meses sin mejoras para trabajadores y pensionados. Provea denunció un "estancamiento deliberado en los ingresos base de los trabajadores y pensionados", durante el gobierno de Nicolás Maduro e hizo un llamado de atención a la presidenta interina Delcy Rodríguez, quien...

El Banco Mundial proyecta un avance del 2,3% en 2026 y del 2,6% en 2027 para América Latina y el Caribe

El Banco Mundial anticipa que las economías de América Latina y el Caribe registrarán una expansión del 2,3% en 2026 y que esta tasa repuntará hasta el 2,6% en 2027, en un contexto de mejora progresiva de la demanda interna y de los intercambios comerciales, según sus últimas proyecciones difundidas este martes. De acuerdo con estas estimaciones, la actividad económica del conjunto de la región habría aumentado un 2,2% en 2025, apoyada en un dinamismo mayor de lo previsto del...

México. Profuturo alcanza la Medalla de Oro de Morningstar y consolida su liderazgo en el sistema de pensiones

Profuturo estableció un precedente en el sector financiero al convertirse en la primera y única Afore en México, además de la única institución de pensiones en América Latina, en obtener la Clasificación Medallista Oro de Morningstar, el mayor reconocimiento que otorga esta firma global especializada en análisis de fondos. Este logro sitúa a la administradora mexicana dentro de un grupo altamente selecto a nivel internacional y consolida su papel como referente en la administración del ahorro para el retiro. La...

Divorced UK women face 61% pension gap

Female divorcees have been found to typically have £53,160 less in pensions savings than divorced men in the UK, according to research by Now:Pensions and the Pension Policy Institute. Divorced women hold just 39% of the pension wealth of divorced men, with the median pension wealth for divorced men standing at £85,800, compared to £32,640 for divorced women. Among married individuals, men hold 61% more with £111,540, versus £43,656 for women. Divorced women’s annual pension income of £13,893 stands at just...

2026 marks beginning of ‘decade of pensions transformation’

UK pension schemes enter 2026 in a robust position with strong funding levels, but the year ahead is expected to mark the start of significant structural change for the system, Penfold has stated. The digital pensions provider noted that defined benefit (DB) pension schemes were collectively running an estimated £223bn surplus, with assets exceeding long-term liabilities by around 24-25 per cent. Meanwhile, defined contribution (DC) assets under management have continued to grow, reaching around £650bn - an increase of roughly 40...

Global investment outlook: Navigating a complex landscape

From the impact of US trade tariffs to the continued growth of private markets, and from climate change investing headwinds to the artificial intelligence (AI) megatrend, there have been plenty of challenges and opportunities for investors to navigate over the past 12 months. Pensions Expert asked consultants and asset managers for their views on the continued dominance of US equities in investment portfolios, how to mitigate geopolitical risks, and whether private markets have been overdone. AI continues to dominate as a...