November 2020

US pension funds failing in climate change challenge

Fewer than one-in-five pension funds in North America have committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions across their portfolios by 2050 according to a study that underlines the need to accelerate the fight against climate change in the world’s largest pensions market. Read also Australian pension fund settles landmark climate lawsuit Just 17 per cent of North American pensions funds aim to reach net zero by the middle of the century while a further 8 per cent expect to reach...

Switzerland: The road to digital pensions

Martin Eling, director of the Institute of Insurance Economics and professor in insurance management at the University of St Gallen, receives a letter from his pension fund every year. The document describes his situation at retirement age. “The fact that I receive a letter by regular mail once a year is not what I expect in terms of digitisation in 2020,” he says. “There is still little digitisation in the Swiss pension fund sector compared to other sectors”....

The savings and domestic investment paradox in Namibia

Namibia has been praised for having one of the largest savings pools in Africa, but the question of where such funds are invested and how they are benefiting Namibians still lingers. An analysis by The Namibian shows that since 2013, the asset base of non-banking institutions has been growing by an average of N$18 billion per year. Non-banking institutions are typically your pension funds, insurance companies, medical aid funds and friendly societies. In Namibia, they are regulated by Namibia Financial...

October 2020

Análisis del proyecto del Ejecutivo que propone poner un límite máximo a las comisiones que cobran las Administradoras de Fondos de Ahorro para el Retiro en México

Por FIAP Contexto Mexicano México, como gran parte de los países del continente americano está pasando por una transición demográfica que lleva a un proceso de envejecimiento generalizado de la población. Este envejecimiento es resultado de una mayor esperanza de vida gracias a los avances médicos modernos, así como una disminución en la tasa de fertilidad, producto de los cambios en los hábitos y estilo de vida de sus habitantes. Este envejecimiento se traduce en una mayor participación de...

How are Japanese corporate funds adapting to global economic challenges

Since 2016, a Japanese publication for institutional investors, AL-IN, has periodical surveyed Japanese corporate pension funds to determine what products best serve them as they confront structural and market changes. The 2018 edition of the survey found pension funds preparing for a domestic economic downturn. Income gains were already slack and pension funds sought bond-related and low-liquidity assets to cover the shortfall. Since then, investment and financial markets have been defined by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s shift in monetary...

Equity returns fuel Q3 Canadian pension fund returns

Strong global equity markets continue to augment pension plan returns with Canadian defined benefit plans returning 3.2 percent for the third quarter, according to the Northern Trust Canada Universe. The Northern Trust Canada Universe tracks the performance of Canadian institutional investment plans that subscribe to performance measurement services as part of Northern Trust’s asset service offerings. Overall, equity markets navigated pockets of volatility, closing the quarter in positive territory, while financial markets appeared to shrug off fears perpetuated by...

COVID-19 and the Future of Aging: A Public Health Forecast

Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging: What has the COVID-19 pandemic shown us about the importance of investment in public health — are there opportunities for improvement that can be made in time to help? Dr. Linda Fried: COVID-19 has unmasked so many areas where the United States has not invested adequately to protect its people. A key example is our public health system. It should be responsible for creating seventy percent of the health of our...

World report on ageing and health

By World Health Organization Organization Comprehensive public health action on population ageing is urgently needed. This will require fundamental shifts, not just in the things we do, but in how we think about ageing itself. The World report on ageing and health outlines a framework for action to foster Healthy Ageing built around the new concept of functional ability. Making these investments will have valuable social and economic returns, both in terms of health and wellbeing of older people and...

Pension Reform in Mexico: Guiding Principles for Creating a Sustainable and Balanced System for Private Sector Workers

By Guillermo Zamarripa & Gustavo A. Del Angel From 1995 to 1997, Mexico engaged in a major pension reform. With that change, the system migrated from a pay as you go defined benefit model to a defined contribution one. The pension system reform permitted a sustained increase of financial savings in Mexico from 1999 to 2019. Savings managed by the pension funds -the Afores1- reached 16.6% of GDP as of the end of 2019. However, after more than two...

Reconsidering Risk Aversion

By Daniel J. Benjamin, Mark Alan Fontana, Miles S. Kimball Risk aversion is typically inferred from real or hypothetical choices over risky lotteries, but such “untutored” choices may reflect mistakes rather than preferences. We develop a procedure to disentangle preferences from mistakes: after eliciting untutored choices, we confront participants with their choices that are inconsistent with expected-utility axioms (broken down enough to be self-evident) and allow them to reconsider their choices. We demonstrate this procedure via a survey about...