August 2020

14Aug

Where Did the Pre-COVID World Stand on Protecting the Seniors?

By Natalia Milovantseva, PhD By 2050, the elderly population is expected to reach 2 billion, with 80% living in low- and middle-income countries. In today’s COVID-19 pandemic reality, income and health support for these older adults is a critical concern. What have the world’s countries been doing to ensure that their elderly do not live in poverty? Are there national policies to ensure their health needs are adequately met? How are the countries helping working adults who are responsible...

August 14, 2020
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14Aug

G7 Pensions: ESG, SDGs, Green Growth and the Road to Camp David

By M. Nicolas J. Firzli The ‘COVID Crisis’ has accelerated the mainstreaming of SDG-driven investment, with pension board members (trustees) playing an increasingly active role across all asset classes, from Sacramento to Sydney: governments (debt) and CEOs (equity) are having to commit more seriously to pressing environmental, social and societal matters, or face the risk of abrupt divestment (Brazil, Facebook etc.). Beyond financial economics and investment policy, the advent of fiduciary capitalism will have a profound impact on the...

August 14, 2020
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14Aug

Public Pension Reforms and Fiscal Foresight: Narrative Evidence and Aggregate Implications

By Huixin Bi Sarah Zubairy We explore the evolution of pension policy across countries and investigate the macroeconomic impact of pension structural reforms in recent decades, in particular those with implementation delays. We first document chronological changes in pension policy for ten OECD countries between 1962 and 2017. The new data set uncovers that changes in pension policy come in waves, with a rapid expansion of pension systems between 1960s and 1980s followed by a wave of retrenchments since...

August 14, 2020
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14Aug

EIOPA finalises the regulation of the pan-European Personal Pension Product

Today the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) delivered to the European Commission a set of draft Regulatory and Implementing Technical Standards and its advice on Delegated Acts to implement the framework for the design and delivery of the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP). Read also Chilean Central Bank Measures Reduce Banks’ Risks from Pension Withdrawal EIOPA’s proposed legal instruments follow the objective to unlock the potential of the European personal pension market by setting the right incentives for...

August 14, 2020
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14Aug

US. Massive 401(k) Suit Settlement Struck

In a remarkably short period, an excessive fee suit involving proprietary funds has settled for what may be the largest monetary settlement among those cases to date. The suit—filed on Feb. 15, 2019 by plaintiff (and former McKinsey plan participant) Tushar Bhatia against McKinsey and MIO (MIO Partners, Inc., a subsidiary of McKinsey)—asserted claims for breach of fiduciary duty, prohibited transactions, and equitable restitution under ERISA. More specifically, he alleged that McKinsey adopted certain in-house funds for the...

August 14, 2020
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14Aug

UK. TPR responds to questions on their effectiveness on a pension scam case to WPC

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) chief executive, Charles Counsell, has written to Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) chair, Stephen Timms, in response to questions posed by Timms concerning TPR’s handling of the Norton Motorcycles case. Following The Pensions Ombudsman’s (TPO) decision to uphold the complaints relating to the Norton Motorcycles pension schemes, Timms wrote to Counsell asking about TPR’s plan of action. At the time, Timms described the case as “shocking” and said it raises “serious questions” about the “effectiveness...

August 14, 2020
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13Aug

Nearly half of young people have lost income due to the crisis, UN study finds

Some 42% of young people around the world, who were still working during the pandemic, have seen a drop in income as a result of the coronavirus crisis, a study by the United Nations’ labor body has found. Drew Gardiner, youth employment specialist for the UN’s International Labour Organization, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday that young people were in a “disadvantaged position” in the labor market even before the pandemic hit. This is partly because...

August 13, 2020
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13Aug

Chilean Central Bank Measures Reduce Banks’ Risks from Pension Withdrawal

Following congressional approval of a bill to allow Chileans to withdraw up to 10% of their holdings from private pension funds, for the first time the Chilean Central Bank announced a program on July 30 to conduct repos with pension funds to purchase up to USD10 billion in senior bank bonds. This will allow pensions funds to maintain their investment positions and help reduce pressures that the pension fund withdrawal process would have likely generated on bank bonds and...

August 13, 2020
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13Aug

Call for urgent reforms to pension funds in Bahrain

The pension funds need to undergo urgent reforms in order to be saved before it’s too late. Social Insurance Organisation (SIO) chief executive Eman Al Murbati gave a presentation on the future of pension funds. Read also Switzerland. Pension reform initiative runs out of steam at early stage She was speaking at an event hosted by the National Communication Centre (NCC) as part of their ‘Conversations with a Government Official’ series. Read also Thai Airways must pay B5.4bn in pensions Ms...

August 13, 2020
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13Aug

Japanese head of world’s biggest pension fund looks beyond sovereign debt for future returns

The head of the world’s largest pension fund said he is looking beyond the safety of sovereign debt as an era of falling rates forces even the most conservative of investors to rethink playbooks. Masataka Miyazono, the president of Japan’s mammoth Government Pension Investment Fund with ¥162.1 trillion ($1.5 trillion) in assets, said the fund is looking at a range of foreign debt as it seeks steady returns in pandemic-riven markets after swinging from a record loss to...

August 13, 2020
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