April 2026

Analysis-Brazil shackles public pension funds after Banco Master meltdown

Brazil’s biggest bank failure in recent history has led to an aggressive crackdown on public pension funds, which were among its creditors, limiting their portfolios in ways that could make it harder to hit their long-term targets. The new restraints for public pension funds, which manage some $73 billion in Brazil, are part of the widening fallout from the liquidation of Banco Master, with consequences for politicians, a state-run lender and even central bankers. Although Master was not considered a systemic...

Nigel Farage commits to keeping ‘triple lock’ for state pensions if he becomes PM

Nigel Farage today vowed to keep the 'triple lock' for state pensions if he's prime minister - but Reform UK could take the axe to 'gold plated' civil service schemes. After months of internal wrangling within Reform over the issue, Mr Farage said the triple lock 'is going to stay' if his party wins the next general election. There had previously been signs of a split at the top of Reform over the triple lock, which sees state pensions increase in line with whichever...

Baby boomers have now ‘gobbled up’ nearly one-third of America’s wealth share, and they’re leaving Gen Z and millennials behind

Older Americans may be trading in hustling for retirement, but that hasn’t stopped them from getting richer. Baby boomers now hold a record high of the United States’ wealth, Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok noted in a December blog post, citing Federal Reserve data. Compared to 1989, when those over 70 years old held 19% of the wealth in the household sector, older Americans now own 31% of the wealth. That chunk of change is an outsize share compared to other generations....

UK. Pensions dashboards are schemes ready for the next step

TPR dashboards lead Lucy Stone emphasises that connection is just the start of the dashboards journey, urging schemes to keep up the momentum, focus on value data and embrace the opportunities to learn from user testing. We are edging ever closer to people being able to see all their pensions online at a time of their choosing, revolutionising how they plan for retirement. With the deadline for connection less than six months away, three quarters of all records are...

Uruguay to keep private pension funds, minister says

Uruguay’s private pension fund managers will remain a key part of the nation’s social security system, Finance Minister Gabriel Oddone said Thursday. Speaking with local radio station Radiomundo 1170, Oddone dismissed concerns about nationalization, stating that individual savings accounts will stay protected and under private sector administration. The future of the pension system has drawn attention from the international community. Oddone said that potential changes to these funds were the main concern raised by investors during last week’s International Monetary...

How to live a longer and happier life, according to science

You want to be happier. You want to feel more fulfilled. You want to live a longer, healthier life. Hold that thought. Lewis Terman, a Stanford University psychologist, was a pioneer in I.Q. testing. His revisions of the Stanford-Binet test helped it become a widespread tool for measuring general intelligence. In 1921, he identified 1,500 children who had scored 135 or higher on the test and began one of the longest longitudinal studies ever conducted. (The New York Times calls Terman and his study of “Termites,” as the kids called themselves, the “grandfather of...

Reform UK plans to scrap ‘gold-plated’ public sector pensions for new workers

Reform UK has unveiled plans to abolish so-called "gold-plated" pension arrangements for new public sector workers from 2030. The proposals would see defined benefit schemes, which guarantee retirement income, replaced with defined contribution arrangements dependent on investment performance. Under the plans, individuals entering public sector employment after 2030 would no longer have access to guaranteed pension payouts. The policy would take effect if Nigel Farage secures victory at the next general election. Reform UK has previously committed to ending such schemes for new...

Can Nigeria’s N27 Trillion Pension Assets Rescue Its Aailing Health Sector?

Nigeria’s pension fund assets experienced an unprecedented 20% surge in 2025, reaching a total of N27.3 trillion (approximately KES 2.35 trillion) by the end of December. While this growth represents a significant triumph for the National Pension Commission (PenCom), a critical debate is now emerging: can these vast resources be diverted from financing government deficits to fixing Nigeria’s chronic healthcare financing gap? Currently, the overwhelming majority of these assets—over 65%—are invested in Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) securities. While these...

UK. Annuity rates rise to 7.62% in March

Average annuity rates increased to 7.62 per cent in March, boosting potential retirement income, the Standard Life Annuity Rate Tracker has shown. Annuity pricing improved by 1.46 per cent over the quarter from 7.51 per cent at the end of 2025, as long‑term interest rates remained high. The data showed that a healthy 65-year-old with £100,000 of pension savings could have received an annual income of up to £7,620, representing an extra £3,000 for men and £4,000 for women over a lifetime. Standard...

Pension funds urged to account for climate risk in private assets

Ortec Finance has urged global pension funds to gauge the physical climate-related risks associated with holding private assets, which are typically less liquid and held for much longer than equities or bonds. "Investments made now into infrastructure or real estate typically have a 15-year plus time horizon, so these are highly likely to be affected by rising physical climate risks," Ortec Finance managing director for climate scenarios and sustainability Maurits van Joolingen said. Ortec Finance estimates private infrastructure assets in the...