January 2025

US. Time to act: The role of pension trustees in reaching net zero

Asset owners, business leaders and pensions funds collectively hold the power to put the global economy on a sustainable footing. Pension funds are in a unique position of both vulnerability and strength: susceptible to the risks of an unsustainable future, but possessing the influence to promote positive outcomes. With just five years until the Paris Agreement’s 2030 deadline for halving carbon emissions, we face the possibility that we will fail to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (see below) and...

Why millions of young Chinese are refusing to make pension payments

China’s pension system is in danger of running out of cash within a decade due to severe underfunding. Now it faces a new threat: Tens of millions of mostly young workers are refusing to pay into it. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Qianwei Zhang about why workers are boycotting the system and what’s at stake for the struggling economy and the Communist Party. Here is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation: Gao Pengcheng...

Vietnam. Benefits of paying pensions and benefits without using cash

Thuan Duc Commune (Dong Hoi City, Quang Binh) became the first locality in Dong Hoi City to achieve 100% of pensioners and social insurance benefits receiving through bank accounts (ATM cards). In the middle of December 2024 month, with the last cases receiving pensions and social insurance benefits in cash switching to receiving them via e-commerce, Thuan Duc commune officially closed the list of social security payments via ATM cards at a rate of 100%. As one of the people on...

US. Pensions Got a Boost From Strong Markets in 2024, But They’re Still In Trouble

A solid year for the U.S. stock markets resulted in better-than-expected returns for state and local pensions last year. However, that boost may not be enough to pull them out of trouble. Pensions notched an average annual return of 10.3% in 2024, higher than the projected 6.87%, according to a new report from Equable Institute, a think tank focused on pension research.12 Yet public pension returns still lagged behind the gains of the broader equity markets–the S&P 500 rose more than 23% in 2024. The...

México. Afores invierten 168,000 millones de pesos en Fibras

Las administradoras de fondos para el retiro (Afores) invirtieron 168,000 millones de pesos (42%) de los más de 400,000 millones de pesos que conforman la capitalización de los Fideicomisos de Inversión en Bienes Raíces (Fibras), según Fina Moisés, directora general de la Asociación Mexicana de Fibras inmobiliarias (Amefibra). Las Afores invierten los ahorros para el retiro de los trabajadores en distintos instrumentos financieros con el fin de incrementarlos y otorgarles mayores pensiones una vez que se jubilen. No obstante, las...

Chile. ¿Por qué es tan urgente una reforma de pensiones en Chile que alivie el mercado de capitales?

A medida que el debate sobre la reforma de las pensiones en Chile se alarga, el agujero negro en el centro del mercado de capitales del país que se pretende llenar no hace más que agrandarse. Legisladores reanudarán este mes el debate sobre el proyecto de ley en medio de arduas disputas sobre el destino de los fondos recaudados de una nueva contribución a las cuentas de los trabajadores, el cual será pagado por los empleadores. Esfuerzos de reformas similares...

Consecuencias si el IPC 2025 en Colombia supera el 5% en el anuncio de este jueves

Este jueves 9 de enero el Dane dará a conocer el IPC de diciembre y, por en ende, el acumulado de todo 2024. Una cifra que será clave y que marcará el incremento de arriendos, cuotas de administración, matrículas de colegios y pensiones y precios de diferentes productos y servicios, peajes, entre otros. Expertos como Corficolombiana y el Banco de Bogotá pronostican que la inflación en Colombia, para 2024, se ubicará en 5,2% y 5,1%. Al respecto, un análisis de Scotiabank...

Cambios poblacionales en El Salvador y ajustes en el bono demográfico

El nuevo Censo de Población revela otra oportunidad conocida como el bono demográfico de género, que destaca los beneficios económicos asociados al avance hacia la paridad entre mujeres y hombres en el mercado laboral. Los datos preliminares del Censo de Población y Vivienda El Salvador 2024 revelan cambios demográficos profundos que han transformado significativamente al país en menos de cincuenta años. De ser un país típico del tercer mundo, con altas tasas de fecundidad, natalidad y mortalidad, hemos pasado a...

Finally, U.S. pension plans reach fully funded status

For the first time in 17 years, at the close of 2024 pension plans sponsored by large U.S. companies were fully funded to meet future financial obligations. That’s according to Willis Towers Watson’s latest funded-status analysis, which examined pension plan data for 361 Fortune 1000 companies with a calendar fiscal year. The analysis estimated that, in the aggregate, those companies’ plans were 100% funded. The companies’ combined pension obligations declined by 8%, from an estimated $1.25 trillion at the end of 2023...

UK politics needs to take a long-term view on social care

Past attempts to reform social care by both Labour and the Conservatives have failed.  The recent commission of an independent review led by Baroness Louise Casey into the state of social care provides a beacon of hope. Nicholas Barr argues that a long-term view on social care is the only plausible solution. Enjoying this post? Then sign up to our newsletter and receive a weekly roundup of all our articles. Social care in England, though a known problem, has remained chronically underfunded for decades, and has...