February 2024

South Africa. GEPF warns of fake letters with respect to pension payments

By Staff Reporter   Scammers are trying to defraud government workers of their pension money via SMS by encouraging them to resign rather than retire, the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) has warned. GEPF is the largest pension fund in Africa with more than 1.2 million active members and about 500 000 pensioners and beneficiaries. The fund is responsible for more than R2.3 trillion in assets under its management. GEPF said it was recently made aware of fraudulent letters being sent to its...

China wants to build a ‘silver economy’ for its ageing society – but who will keep it running?

Homes for the elderly are businesses like any other. But when Yan Guizhen established her first care facility at the turn of the millennium, she was more interested in providing a necessary service than maximising profit. Yan, 53, now manages six facilities that employ around 100 carers, tending to more than one thousand beds in China’s eastern Shandong province. But her dream to keep those of the older generation safe and comfortable has run into several snags. With China’s population ageing fast,...

México. En la recta final de su mandato, AMLO busca consolidar su legado y facilitar el camino de Morena en las elecciones: expertos

A pocos meses de finalizar su mandato, el presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador propuso un ambicioso paquete de reformas a la Constitución que, según analistas, estaría encaminado a consolidar su legado, encumbrar a los candidatos de Morena para las elecciones de junio y poner contra las cuerdas a sus opositores. El propio AMLO admitió que difícilmente muchas de esas 18 reformas a la Carta Magna y dos legales sean aprobadas en el Congreso en los próximos meses, y que busca...

Colombia. Reforma pensional: ¿qué cambios propone José Antonio Ocampo al proyecto de ley y qué reacciones provocó?

Este viernes marca el comienzo de un semestre crucial en el Congreso de Colombia, con múltiples proyectos de reforma en la agenda, incluida la reforma pensional propuesta por el gobierno del presidente Gustavo Petro. Con el primer debate ya superado, el proyecto enfrenta un plazo límite: de no ser aprobado antes del 20 de junio, se hundirá por falta de trámite, a menos que se citen sesiones extraordinarias. En su columna dominical en EL TIEMPO, el exministro José Antonio Ocampo, presentó...

Argentina. Jubilaciones y pensiones están en su mínimo histórico

Argentina atraviesa un proceso inflacionario complejo y las jubilaciones están en su mínimo histórico por lo que es necesario migrar hacia fuentes más genuinas de sostén del equilibrio fiscal. Además, éste miércoles se conocerá el Índice de Precios al Consumidor (IPC) de enero que se estipula rondará el 20%. Esta situación golpea los bolsillos de los trabajadores y, en especial, de los jubilados y pensionados. El Instituto para el Desarrollo Social Argentino (IDESA), uno de los principales centros de investigación...

US Corporate Pension Plans Continue to Improve Funded Status in January

Following a market rally in 2023 that boosted the funded status of corporate defined benefit plans in the U.S., that strength has continued into 2024. According to several pension trackers, the funded status of the plans continued to increase in January. The WTW Pension Index, which tracks the performance and funded status of a hypothetical 60/40 plan, rose to 108.8 in January, up 1.2% from the closing figures from 2023. WTW attributed this performance primarily to a rise in discount rates,...

UK. Government urged to end ‘short-term’ approach towards pensions policy

The government should end the cycle of “short-term thinking” and the politicising of pensions policy with the introduction of a long-term savings commission for defined contribution (DC) savers, an industry report has found. The research report - How do you solve a problem like DC pensions? - published today (13 February) by the Lang Cat and commissioned by People's Partnership, conducted a series of interviews with industry figures to establish a consensus view on what the future of the pensions industry may...

Vietnam’s workers cash out pensions early ahead of new law

Vietnam is amending its pension laws in an attempt to deter people from abandoning the fund before retirement. Yet in some quarters, the pending change is having the opposite effect. Many workers critical to the world's electronics and clothing supply chains were already taking early payouts to deal with hardships, such as those brought on by the pandemic. Now, more of them are getting jittery after hearing the upcoming law could cut payouts in half, and the communist country is...

AI’s impact can’t be overstated – BlackRock and Invesco execs

By COURTNEY DEGEN   Artificial intelligence will have a tremendous impact on the economy, healthcare and other industries, executives from BlackRock and Invesco said Feb. 12 at the Exchange ETF conference in Miami Beach, Fla. "It's hard to overstate the impact of AI on the economy (and) on different industries," said Jay Jacobs, U.S. head of thematics and active equity ETFs at BlackRock. AI is what Jacobs called a "platform technology," meaning "it is going to bring other industries into the fold that maybe don't even exist...

México. ¿Cuánto ganaron las afores en 2023 por administrar tu ahorro para el retiro?

Los ingresos que reciben las afores por administrar tu dinero, que va desde recibirlo, invertirlo y buscar que te generen ganancias, se utiliza en diversas cosas. Durante el 2023 los trabajadores con una cuenta de ahorro para el retiro pagaron a las afores 30,327 millones de pesos por la administración del dinero que acumulan para su pensión. De acuerdo con cifras de la Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro (Consar), de enero a diciembre del año pasado las...