December 2022
06Dec

French unions vow to fight pension reform, with ‘mobilisation beginning in January’

France's eight biggest unions have issued a joint statement promising massive, co-ordinated strikes and demonstrations in January if the government goes ahead with planned pension reforms. “We will decide on a first date of a united mobilisation with strikes and demonstrations in January, if the government remains stubborn on its pension reform project,” reads the statement issued on Monday by the eight largest and most influential unions – CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires and FSU. All eight are...

December 6, 2022
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06Dec

Big Finance Has a Sustainability Problem. These Brands Have Solutions

The Co-Operative Bank and Make My Money Matter want to show consumers the power of their money The first question David Hayman asks new people he meets is if they know where their pension money is held. Most say they don’t. If you’re reading this in the U.K., you might be surprised to learn that yours is most likely invested in fossil fuels, tobacco or arms. In the U.S., just 14 public pension funds inject $82 billion each year into...

December 6, 2022
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06Dec

How Access To Retirement Plans (or Lack Thereof) Is Preventing Americans From Having Adequate Savings

Access to a workplace retirement plan typically prompts more people to save, but many Americans don’t even get the chance. This problem has to do with the current retirement system, as more employers opt for 401(k) plans and other similar retirement accounts over pensions, putting the responsibility of saving on the workers instead. “There are too many Americans who don’t have that future stability,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh said at an event hosted by the Employee Benefit Research...

December 6, 2022
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06Dec

Ghana. Pensions will be protected against Debt Exchange – TUC assures workers

The Trades Union Congress(TUC) has assured that it will take steps to safeguard workers’ pensions amid the implementation of government’s Domestic Debt Exchange (DDX) Programme. In a statement issued on Monday, the TUC expressed disquiet about the failure of government to engage Labour ahead of the launch given that substantial portion of workers’ pension is invested in government bonds. Read also Shelter Afrique target East African bourses, pension funds in USD 500mn housing bond Nonetheless, the TUC appealed to all workers...

December 6, 2022
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06Dec

Europe needs to step up on ‘global clean tech race,’ EU president says

The European Commission should help member countries and European Union companies compete with the U.S. on green energy initiatives, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday. "We are now confronted with an intensifying global clean tech race," Ms. Von der Leyen said in a speech at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. The United States' Inflation Reduction Act, with massive subsidies for clean energy, "should make us reflect on how we can improve our state-aid frameworks, and adapt...

December 6, 2022
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05Dec

Swedish pension funds invest in cryptocurrency

Swedish public pension funds have invested hundreds of millions of kronor in a cryptocurrency company that has lost 87 per cent of its share value, Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter (DN) reported on Saturday. Four public pension funds, which manage the pension money on behalf of the Swedish public, have invested more than SEK200 million (USD19 million) in Coinbase, a cryptocurrency trading company, according to the report. Details of how many shares have been bought and sold were not revealed. But DN...

December 5, 2022
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05Dec

Health Services Workers’ Union battles government over ‘haircut’ on pensions

The Health Services Workers’ Union (HSWU) has vowed to resist any attempt by the government to touch the Pensions of its members. The General Secretary of the HSWU, Franklin Owusu Ansah, at a press conference held on Sunday said “If the government finds it so important to do the debt restructuring, we will urge them to ring-fence the Pension Funds of workers. Workers of Ghana can’t continue suffering to the grave. Enough is enough!!” This comes on the back of a...

December 5, 2022
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05Dec

British government looks at pension rules to retain health workers

Britain's government is launching a consultation into how to amend pension rules for workers in the National Health Service to help retain more staff, at a time when the sector faces strikes over pay this month that could halt some procedures. The governing Conservative Party has long promised to sort out a health service which has struggled to recover after being stretched to its limits during the COVID-19 pandemic and now faces strikes by thousands of nurses and ambulance workers. "The...

December 5, 2022
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05Dec

Private Debt Funds Tap Australia’s $2.3 Trillion Pension Savings

After winning over some of the biggest retirement plans in the US, private credit managers have found new fertile ground for their investment pitch: Australia’s $2.3 trillion pension industry. Four of the top-10 pensions Down Under -- Australian Retirement Trust, HostPlus, UniSuper and Colonial First State -- are making significant increases to their private credit allocations, according to recent statements and interviews with Bloomberg News. AustralianSuper, the nation’s largest, is midway into a three-year push to triple its allocation. That’s music...

December 5, 2022
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02Dec

UK. FCA bans third-party dashboard consumer charges

The Financial Conduct Authority will prohibit third parties from charging customers for services linked to pension dashboards as part of its regulatory framework for the initiative. According to its new consultation - published on December 1, on the same day that the Pensions Dashboards Programme issued its own consultation into design standards - the FCA recognised that some dashboard providers will look to third-party agreements for areas including licensing or third-party hosting. Any agreement with a third party, however, must allow...

December 2, 2022
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