July 2021

A healthier future for the Mexican pension industry

The last five years have been ones of intense transformation for the largest pension fund in Mexico. Establishing a sound and replicable investment process has been one of the main challenges for the team. Changing the team’s culture towards long-term investing, based on optimising diversification, has been the name of the game, and even though there are additional challenges in the future, positive results arise both from a quantitative and qualitative perspective. As a fusion between Banorte Bank and the...

Average German pension has risen 34 percent in 10 years

Average pensions in Germany have increased significantly over the past 10 years, RND reports, citing figures from the Deutsche Rentenversicherung. Accordingly, 10 years ago, newly-retired people who had contributed to social security for at least 35 years received an average of 962 euros per month. Most recently in 2020, someone entering retirement who had contributed for the same length of time received an average of 1.290 euros per month - 34 percent more than in 2010. In the western federal...

Japan´s EPSF plots to build a financial system that supports sustainability

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Japan’s aims for carbon neutrality and substantially zero CO2 emissions by 2050, in his October 2020 policy speech. He also announced at the climate change summit held in April 2021 that Japan aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 46% in FY2030 from its FY2013 levels. In order to achieve these types of environmental goals, many major countries consider that large scale of private funds would be required for the transition towards such new...

México. Inversión sustentable. ¿Una moda pasajera o compromiso real?

En el mundo financiero se habla cada vez más de un modelo de inversiones sustentable, donde los administradores de recursos buscan colocar el dinero en empresas que reduzcan su huella de carbono, desarrollen tecnologías verdes y tengan un impacto positivo en las comunidades donde están instaladas. Más allá de una moda, es una tendencia que llegó para quedarse, y países como México poco a poco la han comenzado a adoptar. Leer también México. Retiros parciales por desempleo significan 0.48% del...

“La pérdida del grado de inversión de Colombia no tocará nuestros activos y fondos”

Está claro que la pérdida del grado de inversión de Colombia implicará salida de capital extranjero, un incremento de la deuda pública y mayores costos a la hora de buscar financiación. Sin embargo, en entrevista con LR, el presidente de la AFP Porvenir, Miguel Largacha, aseguró que, gracias a que el fondo moderado de dicha entidad se encuentra compuesto, en gran parte por inversiones internacionales que le han permitido tener una rentabilidad de 19,9% en los últimos meses, la rebaja...

US. Ohio Pensioners May Hold The Key To Finally Fixing America’s Struggling Public Pensions

It’s no secret that America’s struggling public pensions are a hot mess. Lack of comprehensive state regulation; the failure of legislative oversight; lay boards lacking investment experience; Wall Street donations to corrupt influential politicians and law enforcement indifference, all contribute to the morass. It seems, on the one hand, no one with authority over pensions wants to see improvements and, on the other, participants whose retirement security is at risk have no say as to how their savings are...

Ghana. GSE boss asks pension funds to boost equity holdings

The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), which is experiencing a bull market this year, provides enormous opportunities for pension funds to invest and realise good returns, Ekow Afedzie, Managing Director of the exchange, has said. Read also Ghana. Minister for Employment initiates mass pension enrolment programme Addressing industry players during a workshop under the theme “Maximising Investment Returns Using the Ghana Stock Exchange”, Mr. Afedzi said “though pension fund investments in fixed-income securities continue to increase, the same cannot be said of...

UK. Triple lock is far from the biggest pension issue on government’s plate

One of the realisations of reaching an age when you are beginning to plan the details of what to do when you finally stop work is how much those preparations are affected by decisions made by others, over which you have limited control. Chief among them is the issue of money. The income you retire on is a key determinant in what happens next: how comfortable your life will be and what compromises you need to make to get through...

Coronavirus exposes cracks in Hongkongers’ retirement planning as health care costs and weak savings dominate worries, EIU survey finds

The Covid-19 pandemic has left most working adults in Hongkong fearing for their financial position and readiness for retirement, according to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit commissioned by HSBC Life Insurance. Read also UK. Triple lock is far from the biggest pension issue on government’s plate Some 98 per cent of Hongkongers expressed worries about ageing in the city, with medical and health care costs, insufficient savings and income security dominating their top concerns. Less than a quarter of...

Will the online pensions revolution take off?

Senior citizens and coins in glass jars are some of the common themes you find when you look up ‘pensions’ on an image search engine. But in recent years the industry has been catching the attention of fintechs. In June, Plum announced it was expanding into retirement savings with the launch of a self-invested personal pension, two months after PensionBee floated on the London Stock Exchange. Both providers, and others such as Moneybox and Penfold, to name a few, enable savers...