February 2022

UK. Prudential reports itself to regulator over AVC failings

Prudential is one of the UK’s largest additional voluntary contributions providers for Local Government Pension Scheme funds. Standard Life, Scottish Widows, Aegon, Legal & General and Clerical Medical also process AVCs. LGPS members have two options when it comes to increasing their pension benefits. They may buy an extra pension in the LGPS, and are allowed to make additional contributions to buy up to £7,316 of extra pension, if they are in the main section of the scheme, or they...

The many lives of the Bolivian private pension system

Latin American countries have increased the state’s role in pension provision since the mid-2000s. Bolivia has introduced changes in which the state has a bigger role, and this is linked to the reforms promoted by the socialist MAS party. Still, the private system has endured, Leandro N. Carrera (LSE Public Policy Group) and Marina Angelaki (Panteion University) explain. Read also Virus has created different economic system, says Finnish pensions chief Since the 1980s, the region has been at the forefront of...

Nigeria: Alleged Pension Fraud – EFCC Closes Case Against Ex-Head of Service, Steve Oronsaye

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Thursday, rested its case in a pension fraud trial involving a former Head of Service of the Federation, Stephen Oronsaye. The anti-graft agency closed its case with the testimony of its 21st prosecution witness. It will now be the turn of Mr Oronsaye and his co-defendants to open their defence to the 49 charges of money laundering involving N2 billion in public funds. EFCC alleged in the charges at the Federal High Court in...

US. Public pension plans stay on cost-efficient course – NCPERS

Public retirement systems continued to manage expenses in fiscal 2021, with many also reducing their assumed rates of return, according to an annual study released Wednesday by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems. In fiscal 2021, the pension systems averaged 54 basis points in administrative costs and investment manager fees, down from 60 basis points the year before. Read also U.S. corporate pension plan funding rises slightly in January – 2 reports Systems lowered their assumed rates of returns to...

México. Gasto en pensiones creció 170% en una década

El gasto del gobierno federal en el pago de pensiones y jubilaciones terminó por primera vez desde que hay registros arriba de un billón de pesos en un sólo año; además, en la última década este desembolso se ha disparado 170 por ciento, revelan datos de la Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público (SHCP). Entre enero y diciembre de 2021 los recursos destinados al pago de pensiones de los sectores público y privado ascendieron a un billón 48 mil millones...

Fondos de pensiones en Colombia, obligados a apoyar emprendedores por Ley

El Gobierno Nacional está afinando los detalles del decreto mediante el cual piensa reglamentar la ley que obliga a los fondos de pensiones en Colombia a destinar parte de sus recursos a apoyar emprendimientos colombianos o con proyectos productivos. La Ley ya fue aprobada en el Congreso de la República el año pasado y ahora las autoridades económicas está puliendo los detalles que la normativizan. Leer también Fondos de pensiones, principales compradores de TES en Colombia El decreto está próximo a expedirse...

Morningstar’s Annual Target-Date Strategy Landscape

Morningstar’s Annual Target-Date Strategy Landscape

By  MorningStar The coronavirus pandemic presented the biggest challenge for target-date strategies since the financial crisis of 2008. Target-date strategies play a central role in many Americans' retirement success by often serving as the default investment option in their defined-contribution retirement plans. Although targetdate performance rebounded sharply from the first quarter’s bear market, the fallout from the economic shock continued to weigh on investor contributions throughout the year. In this report, we examine the impact of the economic uncertainty created by the pandemic on...

Pension Markets in Focus 2021

Pension Markets in Focus 2021

By OECD Pension Markets in Focus provides detailed and comparable statistics on retirement savings around the world. This annual statistical report contributes to the effort of making data on retirement savings available, as the OECD Core Principles of Private Pension Regulation advocates for, to enable regulators and stakeholders to evaluate the design and operation of the pension system relative to its goals. These statistics can support policy discussions through international comparisons and peer learning, and are the basis of policy...

Do pensions have real teeth? Evidence from the state government borrowing costs

By Sumit Agarwal, Chunlin Liu, Qiyuan Peng, Qun Wu & Ting Zhang Yes, they do. State governments with risky defined benefit pension plans have higher borrowing costs, as measured by larger bond offering yield spreads. To control for the potential endogenous issue, we utilize the instruments of actuarial firms’ reputation, and direct flight between the state capital and actuarial firm headquarter. We further identify the relation between pension plan investment risks and borrowing costs using two quasi-experimental shocks: the introduction...

Target Date Funds and Portfolio Choice in 401(k) Plans

By Olivia S. Mitchell & Stephen P. Utkus Target date funds in corporate retirement plans grew from $5B in 2000 to $734B in 2018, partly because federal regulation sanctioned these as default investments in automatic enrollment plans. We show that adopters delegated pension investment decisions to fund managers selected by plan sponsors. Including these funds in retirement saving menus raised equity shares, boosted bond exposures, curtailed cash/company stock holdings, and reduced idiosyncratic risk. The adoption of low-cost target date funds...