October 2022

Global pension systems, including Singapore’s CPF, face issue of getting platform workers on board

While Singapore’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) is among the top-ranked retirement income systems in the world, there is room to nudge the informal workforce, such as platform workers, into contributing more to the national savings scheme. This issue was raised by panellists during a webinar on Tuesday to discuss the findings of the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index, which ranked the Republic ninth out of 44 retirement systems reviewed. Into its 14th year, the index placed Singapore’s retirement system as...

How Sustainable Investing Can Impact Climate Change

Zach Stein, co-founder and CEO of Carbon Collective, a climate change-focused online investment advisor, talks about the three ways sustainable investing can make a positive impact on climate change, as well as the trends shaping the climate tech space. Stein also shares what more investment in climate-focused companies will lead to and the top companies investors may want to keep an eye on. What is the most important issue facing the world today? Climate change is the single most...

UK. Pension triple lock at risk as Truss warns of ‘difficult decisions’

Number 10 has refused to commit to the state pension triple lock, after Liz Truss promised to keep the measure just weeks ago. Truss’ spokesperson refused four times to say Truss would uphold the triple lock, which would ensure state pension payments stay in line with inflation next year. New chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned yesterday that public spending is not going to rise by “as much as people hoped” and he today told cabinet ministers to “find efficiencies” in their departments. Hunt...

Dutch central bank urges pension funds to guard against UK-style crisis

The Dutch central bank is calling on the country’s pension funds to consider boosting holdings of cash and other liquid assets to ensure that they can avoid the turmoil that has hit the UK. Officials at the De Nederlandsche Bank have asked local retirement funds to check for signs of stress, recommending that they review liquidity rules and report on any need for fire sales of assets, people briefed on the matter told the Financial Times. The move comes as UK...

NYC Comptroller Introduces New Transparency Dashboard to View Pension Fund Assets and Performance

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander unveiled today a new interactive website that allows pension beneficiaries and the public to view asset allocation and performance for the City’s five public pension funds which guarantee retirement security for city workers. Together, the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System, Police Pension Fund, Fire Department Pension Fund, and Board of Education Retirement System have approximately $242 billion in assets under management across all asset classes as of August 31,...

A leisurely retirement is further out of reach for most South Africans

Retirement. What does the word mean to you? For the enviable few who have built up a decent nest egg, retirement represents a life of leisure as compensation for years worked. But that is not the reality for most South Africans. When 10X Investments published its first South African Retirement Reality Report in 2018, it highlighted how poorly prepared working South Africans were for retirement. Subsequent reports, including the latest, released recently, have shown that the outlook is worsening by...

How Pension Plans Evolved Out of the Great Financial Crisis

Despite the recession and subsequent loss of assets value, pensions plans continued to pay out over a trillion dollars in benefits to stakeholders over the recessionary era. Public pension funds were not spared from the carnage of the Great Financial Crisis, as assets and funding statuses eroded between December 2007 and June 2009. From 2009-2013, there was a significant dip in the aggregate percentage of required contributions paid. When the economy recovered, states and other plan sponsors normalized their contribution...

Returns on Kenya’s pension fund beat inflation as income surges

Kenya’s National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has paid an interest of 10% on retirement savings in the year ended June 30, 2021, up from 7% a year earlier, Business Daily newspaper reported. Read also Kenya. Pension-backed housing starts dimly amid calls for its overhaul The interest payout, considered the largest on the retirement savings in seven years, comes from a 237% rise in net investment income to 32.3 billion Shillings ($267.72 million), supported by dividends from Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firms. NSSF returns...

Swiss parliament committee votes for compensatory measures to reform second pillar pensions

The social security and health committee of the Council of States (SGK-S), the upper house of the Swiss parliament, voted in favour of a proposal to change the second pillar pension system at its meeting last Friday. After in-depth analysis, and disagreements before the summer break, the committee has supported the idea to compensate the first 15 cohorts retiring after the reform enters into force for the reduction of the conversion rate – Umwandlugssatz – used to calculate pension pay-outs,...

Experts debate length severity recession

The likelihood of an economic recession in the U.S. is a near certainty as inflation and interest rates climb, according to industry experts who spoke to Pensions & Investments. But there's a divergence of views when it comes to the potential length and severity of the downturn. In the worst-case scenario — a lengthy recession — institutional investors will have few places to seek respite from the gloom. Still, managers agreed the best place for institutional investors to park their money...