December 2019

Seis claves sobre la reforma de las pensiones de Macron

La reforma de las pensiones es una promesa electoral, una pieza clave del programa reformista con el que Emmanuel Macron fue elegido presidente en 2017. Estas son algunas claves del plan. ¿Por qué Emmanuel Macron quiere reformar el sistema de pensiones francés? La idea es establecer un “sistema universal con reglas comunes en el cálculo de las pensiones”. Se trataba de garantizar “el derecho de igualdad”, cuestionado por la existencia de hasta 42 sistemas distintos, que incluyen los llamados...

France pensions overhaul to go ahead despite huge protests

The French government has vowed to press ahead with its overhaul of the pensions system despite a hardening nationwide strike that will keep transport at a standstill next week amid another round of planned massive street protests. Four days after at least 800,000 people took part in one of the biggest demonstrations of trade union strength in a decade on Thursday, transport remained virtually at a halt over the weekend as the president, Emmanuel Macron, held talks with ministers...

Greece. Mechanism for retirees with low pensions

The government is planning to abolish the so-called 13th pension, i.e. the handout to pensioners the SYRIZA administration distributed before the elections this year, though the 971 million euros handed out to 2.5 million retirees will stay in their pockets. The Labor Ministry is already working on the creation of a permanent mechanism for the support of recipients of low pensions, within the social security system. The amount of the support and the width of the pensioner catchment will...

KPMG agrees to management buy-out of UK pensions division

KPMG has agreed a deal for the buy-out of its UK pensions division, which will continue to serve clients under the ownership of its current management team. The management buy-out is understood to have been backed by Exponent Private Equity, the private equity firm which entered into exclusive talks with KPMG for the purchase in October. In recent months, KPMG has been conducting a continuous restructuring of its UK operations. The Big Four firm sunk a £45 million investment...

Pakistan. PMYAP ‘Social Protection’ programme to provide social security, legal aid to youth

Prime Minister Youth Affairs Programme (PMYAP)has worked out its first comprehensive “Social Protection” programme aimed to provide social security and legal aid to the youth facing community issues and conflicts. A PMYAP official told APP, the programme would provide protection and security to the youth who were indulged in drug addiction and other wrong practices leaving their household in pathetic condition adding,“It would create awareness among the youngsters to prevent from social evils and wrong practices and would also...

US. Workers Across All Income Levels Are Making This Major Retirement Plan Mistake

By Maurie Backman Without independent savings, retirees risk struggling financially during their golden years. That's why workers are advised to sock away funds in an IRA or 401(k) -- to ensure that they have enough money to cover their living expenses when they're older. But data from J.P. Morgan Asset Management reveals that workers across all income levels are borrowing money from their retirement plans. And that's a troubling trend. The problem with borrowing from your retirement plan Though middle-income...

Automatic enrolment: Qualitative research with small and micro employers

By Department for work & pensions Legislative changes set out in the Pensions Acts 2007, 2008 (and updated as part of the Pensions Act 2011 and 2014) aim to increase private pension saving in the UK and reverse a long-term decline in pension participation rates. The reforms require employers to automatically enrol eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension scheme and to make a minimum contribution. These employer duties are being introduced between October 2012 and February 2018,...

Fintechs and financial inclusion

By Gayatri Murthy, Maria Fernandez-Vida As Fintech companies targeting poor and underserved customers grow and scale, there is a lack of granularity on how their business models solve pain points in financial inclusion and what the industry can learn from the iterations in their business models. CGAP launched a fintech initiative in 2016 to better understand these innovations and draw clear linkages to financial inclusion, where they existed. We worked with 18 fintechs in Africa and South Asia that...

The Comprehensive Wealth of Older Immigrants and Natives

By David A. Love, Lucie Schmidt This article compares the retirement preparations of immigrant and native-born Americans aged 51 or older. The authors estimate the present value of future income streams in calculating measures of comprehensive wealth and an annualized equivalent. In addition to some significant differences in median annualized wealth between immigrants and natives, the authors find that the most recent waves of immigrants are more financially vulnerable in retirement than earlier immigration cohorts were at similar ages....

The Real Effects of Environmental Activist Investing

By S Lakshmi Naaraayanan, Kunal Sachdeva, Varun Sharma Using a socially-motivated activist campaign by a large pension fund, we measure the real effects of activist investing on pollution and the environment. Targeted firms reduced their total toxic chemical releases, production-related emissions, cancer-causing pollution, environmental accidents, and legal risks. These effects do not come at the expense of lower financial performance or returns. We rule out natural alternative hypotheses while also presenting evidence supporting the external validity of socially motivated...