July 2025

Some 54% in Germany would work post-retirement to maintain lifestyle

Nearly 75% of people surveyed in Germany believe they will not be able to maintain their current standard of living when they retire, because their pensions will be insufficient and slightly more than half plan to keep working because of that. To maintain their standard of living, 54.3% of the of the 1,163 working respondents queried in a YouGov poll released on Monday, said they would be willing to work beyond the legal retirement age, mostly in part-time and up...

June 2025

US. Trump may name a ‘shadow’ Fed chair, an unprecedented development in American history

President Donald Trump said last week that he will announce his pick to succeed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell “very soon.” The problem is that Powell still has 11 months left until the end of his term. Trump remains frustrated as ever with the Fed because it has not yet lowered interest rates. He has relentlessly attacked Powell for months. But announcing a Fed chair nominee this far in advance — if he makes good on that plan — would be an...

Nigeria. Workers’ financial insecurity deepens amid violation of Pension law

Under the Pension Reform Act, any company in Nigeria with three or more employees must participate in the Contributory Pension Scheme. While the employees contribute eight per cent of their monthly salary, the employers add 10 per cent or optionally cover full by contributing 20 per cent of the employee’s salary, with the monthly remittances routed to a Pension Fund Administrator. However, many micro and small enterprises ignore this legal requirement, which has resulted in low compliance with many...

Pensions conclave: What changes for retirement in France?

The French prime minister has hailed small steps of progress at his pensions 'conclave' - including one change which has particular significance for foreigners who have worked in France for part of their career. On Thursday, after four months of discussions between the government, employers and moderate unions broke up, France’s Prime Minister François Bayrou extended – again – the deadline to mid-July to allow agreement on sticking points. There has been no big breakthrough on the issue that has convulsed...

Canada. 2025 Top 100 Pension Funds Report: What are the latest trends in de-risking as DB plans enter surplus territory?

The Canadian pension risk transfer market reached record-breaking demand in 2024 with $11 billion in deals at the end of the year, eclipsing the $7.8 billion combined total of annuities transactions in 2023 and 2022. Indeed, the fourth quarter of 2024 alone saw $5.2 billion of overall transactions, split between $1.5 billion in buy-ins and $3.5 billion in buyouts, according to a March report by Telus Health. The push to de-risk is expected to grow in strength over the next year, despite...

France. Defiant Bayrou won’t concede defeat on pension reform talks

 French Prime Minister François Bayrou is refusing to admit defeat after his signature effort to tweak the country's unpopular 2023 retirement reform appeared to collapse this week without a deal. At a press conference on Thursday, Bayrou asserted that the trade unions and industry representatives who participated in his "conclave" on the reform had managed to agree to several compromises that his government plans to legislate in the fall. Those include a commitment to make the pension system financially sustainable...

UK. Govt confirms plans to review pension scheme sustainability reporting requirements

The government has announced that it is considering whether to update the current rules surrounding pension schemes' sustainability reporting, confirming that it will review the 2021 Climate Change Reporting Regulations this year as part of this. The update was one of a number of measures announced by the government today, as it shared three consultations, which form part of the first phase of its work to modernise the UK’s sustainable finance framework. This included a consultation on the draft UK Sustainability...

Canada’s anti-greenwashing rule sparks far-reaching impact for pensions

Canadian pension giants are grappling with the complex consequences of a national anti-greenwashing rule, which could leave businesses and investors more exposed to legal challenges for issuing environmental claims in marketing materials. The law, known as the environmental provisions under the federal Competition Act, was introduced in June last year. The country’s largest pension investor, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), was criticised for recently backing down from the commitment to make its portfolio and operations net zero of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050....

America’s Boomer Population Grows As Birth Rates Fall

The American population is becoming older, with the proportion of baby boomers increasing while birth rates are declining, according to the newly released Vintage 2024 Population Estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. The population aged 65 and older increased by 3.1 percent, to 61.2 million, while the population of those under age 18 decreased by 0.2 percent, to 73.1 million, from 2023 to 2024, the data revealed. Why It Matters America's aging population, coinciding with falling birth rates, has become a growing...

‘Long way to go’ despite improvements in UK retirement optimism

Retirement optimism in the UK is slowly increasing, but there is still a long way to go, as over half (52 per cent) of Brits are not optimistic about being prepared for retirement, research from State Street Global Advisers has revealed. The survey showed that there have been improvements, with one in five (20 per cent) people stating that they are optimistic that they will be financially prepared for retirement by the time they plan to stop working, up 6...