February 2026
04Feb

US. Mark Levine’s Priorities at the NYC Pension System

New York City Comptroller Mark Levine wants to increase the city’s pension investments in affordable housing, and will not slow down on the city’s sustainability initiatives, Levine said in an interview with CIO.  As comptroller, Levine oversees the five New York City pension systems—the Teachers’ Retirement System, Employees Retirement System, Police Pension Fund, Fire Pension Fund, and the Board of Education Retirement System—which collectively manage $311.35 billion in assets. “My No. 1 obligation in this role is to protect the retirement assets of the three-quarters of a million people who...

February 4, 2026
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04Feb

South Korea’s Older Adults Employment Rate Reaches 70% Milestone

As South Korea's society rapidly ages, the employment rate of older adults, aged 55–64, last year surpassed 70% for the first time since statistical records began. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s "Trends in Older Adult Employment" data released on the 4th, the employment rate for older adults last year was 70.5%, exceeding 70% for the first time since related statistics began in 1983. This marks a slight increase from the previous year’s 69.9%. The statistic defines those...

February 4, 2026
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03Feb

Vast majority of DB members confident about their pension

Confidence among defined benefit (DB) members is high, with 86% saying they feel confident about their pension, trust it is secure, understand how it works and expect it to deliver without surprises, latest research from Standard Life reveals. The insurer's DB Member Insights Report 2026 – based on a survey of 1,000 DB members,  commissioned by Standard Life and conducted by Censuswide in October – found this confidence was largely due to trust in the system rather than deep knowledge of the...

February 3, 2026
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03Feb

US. Trump is pushing to include risky assets like crypto and private equity in 401(k)s

In an executive order dated August 7, 2025, President Trump called for a reexamination of regulations and guidance for retirement plans. Trump asked regulators to encourage retirement plan administrators to include risky options like alternative assets (or “alts”) in 401(k) and similar retirement plans. Alternative assets could be funds invested in private equity and cryptocurrencies, assets that lack strict regulation and whose value and risk can be hard to assess compared with other types of investments. Because of this, many consider...

February 3, 2026
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03Feb

UK Treasury offers £100k exit packages amid job cuts

Chancellor Rachel Reeves plans to cut roughly 300 roles from her department by 2030, the Financial Times reported on Monday (2 February). The UK Treasury is reportedly offering officials in the finance ministry up to £100,000 to leave voluntarily amid a wider push to trim administrative spending across Whitehall by 16%. The finance ministry, which employs about 2,100 staff, has already imposed a freeze on external recruitment for many non-essential roles, according to the Financial Times. The voluntary exit packages are calculated as three weeks’ salary for...

February 3, 2026
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03Feb

How aging changes rats’ social choices and what that may mean for healthy aging

The loss of social connectedness as people age increases the odds of cognitive-related disorders and can worsen health outcomes in older populations. But is there a direct relationship between social behavior and cognition? Subhadeep Dutta Gupta, Peter Rapp, and colleagues, from the National Institute on Aging, developed a rat model to probe social cognition in the aging brain. As presented in their eNeuro paper, the researchers used 169 young and aged male rats to discover that while older rats were as social as younger...

February 3, 2026
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January 2026
30Jan

US. Congress Racing to Avoid Shutdown: What It Means for Retirement Plans

President Trump and Senate Democrats reportedly reached a funding agreement on Thursday night to avoid a partial government shutdown, but a lot of elements need to fall into place in a very short period to avoid a shutdown. According to Politico, Trump and the Democrats have agreed to separate out the Department of Homeland Security (which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement) from the larger spending bill moving through Congress, and approve that bill, along with a short-term continuing resolution to...

January 30, 2026
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30Jan

UK. Pension funds and the drive for greater domestic investments – the international perspective

Domestic investment initiatives from governments are on the rise as governments around the world are recognising the opportunity pension funds present to boost economic growth. However, the push for increased domestic investment by pension funds has not avoided criticism - with concerns being raised on the impact to members' best interests. The UK, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands are all countries pursuing the use of pension funds to boost domestic growth in specific sectors. The UK approach The UK has been...

January 30, 2026
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30Jan

India. NPS drives pension expansion, but coverage remains limited amid informality: Economic Survey 2025-26

India’s pension system has expanded steadily over the past decade, but overall coverage remains limited when measured against the size of the country’s vast workforce, the Economic Survey 2025-26 has said. While participation in formal retirement savings schemes is rising, the Survey flags high informality, irregular incomes and low awareness as the biggest structural constraints preventing broad-based pension inclusion, especially among low-income and rural households. According to the Survey, the dominance of informal employment continues to shape the contours of...

January 30, 2026
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29Jan

US. South Dakota Bill Eyes Bitcoin for State Funds

This is a sign of how digital assets are edging closer to mainstream finance in the United States. This debate offers a clear window into how Bitcoin is starting to look less like a fringe bet and more like a strategic reserve asset at the state level. What the South Dakota Bill Actually Does The new proposal in South Dakota would allow the State Investment Council to allocate up to 10% of eligible public funds into Bitcoin, including pensions, trusts, and endowments that together...

January 29, 2026
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