July 2025
10Jul

US. NYC pensions seek partners to expand place-based investments

New York City’s Bureau of Asset Management is in talks with fund managers and other possible partners to expand place-based investments by the city’s five pension funds, according to Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, deputy chief investment officer for responsible investing at BAM. “I’ve had meetings with four other entities based in the New York area that have a strong interest in this type of investment,” Red-Horse said last month at a committee meeting of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System...

July 10, 2025
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10Jul

South Korea. New Proposal Seeks to Extend Employer Pension Contributions to Gig Workers

South Korea is weighing a significant pension reform that could bring platform workers — such as food delivery riders and chauffeur-for-hire drivers — under the same pension contribution scheme as regular employees, with their platforms potentially covering half of their premiums. A new report released Tuesday by the National Pension Research Institute calls for extending employer-like responsibilities to digital platforms, arguing that most platform workers operate under economically dependent conditions despite being legally classified as independent contractors. Based on a survey...

July 10, 2025
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09Jul

Demand for pension risk transfer deals increases around the world

Morningstar DBRS has taken note of the pension risk transfer (PRT) market globally in a new commentary report published July 7. In it, they discuss the skepticism some plan members in the United States have about the deals (and the resulting lawsuits) and the regulatory attention being paid to such deals in the United Kingdom. In Canada they note a jump in market volumes in 2024, saying they anticipate demand for such deals will remain steady. “With life expectancy trending higher...

July 9, 2025
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09Jul

UK. OBR report highlights the unsustainable burden the triple lock will place on taxpayers

Many retirees rely significantly on the State Pension to sustain their standard of living, particularly amid persistently high inflation and interest rates. Yet, while its role in safeguarding older generations is well-meaning, the long-term fiscal implications of the triple lock cannot be ignored. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has now forecast the cost of moving from an earnings-link in 2012 to the triple lock uprating mechanism is set to reach £15.5 billion annually by 2030, three times higher...

July 9, 2025
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09Jul

US. Retirement Industry Responds to Passage of ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

The retirement industry has raised few qualms about the passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” but President Donald Trump’s key legislation gives the sector little to shout about, industry sources say. The new law does expand health savings accounts and makes some good on Trump’s campaign promise to not tax Social Security—it instead provides a temporary expanded deduction of up to $6,000 for those 65 or older if they make less than $75,000 per year (or less than $150,000 for...

July 9, 2025
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09Jul

Uganda. Insurance Industry Urged to Tap Into the Country’s Growing Pension Sector

Insurance companies in Uganda have been encouraged to design retirement-focused products to take advantage of opportunities in the fast-growing pension sector. Speaking at the inaugural Thought Leaders Forum on Pensions held at Mestil Hotel and organised by the Uganda Insurers Association (UIA), Rita Faith Nansasi, Acting CEO of the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA), said insurers are strategically placed to boost the pension system through their expertise in long-term financial planning, investment, and risk management. "Retirement remains a distant concern...

July 9, 2025
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09Jul

The Depopulation Bomb

Natalist panic is rife nowadays. The White House is weighing initiatives to boost the number of births, ranging from a $5,000-per-baby bonus to awarding "National Medals of Motherhood" to mothers with six or more children. In March, the NatalCon gathering in Austin, Texas, declared that we're "living through the greatest population bust in human history." In April, the tech billionaire (and father of 14 children) Elon Musk posted on X: "Low birth rates will end civilization." And yet the world's population continues to grow. 132 million...

July 9, 2025
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08Jul

UK regulator to develop climate transition plan template for pension funds

The UK’s pensions regulator will work with industry to develop and test a voluntary net-zero transition plan template suitable for occupational pension schemes. Announcing the move today, it said transition plans could help organisations, including occupational pension schemes, prepare for the government’s goal of transitioning the UK to a net-zero nature-positive economy by 2050. Last month, the government launched a consultation on how to take forward a manifesto commitment to introduce climate transition plans for financial institutions and FTSE100 companies. The...

July 8, 2025
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08Jul

China’s New Cash Plan to Tackle Birth Rate Threat

China plans to introduce new nationwide cash incentives for families with newborn babies in an effort to boost the country's declining birth rate and ensure long-term economic growth. Why It Matters China ended its decades-long one-child policy in 2016, but the country's fertility rate continued to decline for seven years, despite a raft of government policies. Officials fear that the demographic shift could have wide-ranging effects on the world's second-largest economy in the years to come. While the fertility rate last year bucked...

July 8, 2025
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08Jul

Germany’s 34.1 billion euros pension gives mandate to China stock fund

A German pension fund has tapped a Chinese firm’s Hong Kong arm to help it invest in local stocks, in a rare move among global allocators that have been cautious about gaining exposure to the nation’s equities. KZVK, which manages 34.1 billion euros (S$51 billion), gave US$50 million to Fullgoal Asset Management (HK) in the second quarter, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The mandate is to invest in Chinese equities listed in Hong Kong, the mainland and...

July 8, 2025
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