September 2024
12Sep

US pension fund allocation to private debt falls short of target

US pension funds were below their median target allocation to private debt in August, a reflection of the challenges in analyzing the growing number of private debt participants. The median target allocation across 117 US pension funds was $188 million, while the median actual allocation was $112 million, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. This suggests that pension funds had a $76 million median net underallocation to private debt as of Aug. 21. The majority of pension funds analyzed failed to meet...

September 12, 2024
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12Sep

Pakistan. Govt notifies major pensions reform

ISLAMABAD: In a major reform in the government's pensions scheme, the finance ministry issued three office memoranda on Tuesday to notify the new criteria on the recommendation of the Pay and Pension Commission 2020. According to the documents available with The Express Tribune, the federal government fixed the period of family pension at 10 years after the death of the retired employee, however, in case of a special child, the family pension would continue for life. The period of special...

September 12, 2024
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11Sep

Argentine Congress Debates Milei Veto Of Pensions Increase

Argentina's Congress debates on Wednesday whether to overturn President Javier Milei's veto of a bill to increase pensions, amid heavy security due to a planned mass opposition protest. Milei, a budget-slashing libertarian, last week blocked an 8.1-percent pensions increase approved by both houses of Congress, which aimed to help cushion retirees in the South American country hit by annual inflation of 250 percent. The president claimed the measure was "manifestly in violation of the current legal framework as it does not...

September 11, 2024
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11Sep

US. As Pension Funding Levels Fell in 2022, Higher Contributions Helped States Manage Debt

From fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the reported funding gap for state pension plans—the disparity between promised benefits and available assets—jumped by $439 billion to $1.27 trillion. The increase, largely fueled by investment losses, highlights how volatile financial markets continue to expose state and local governments to risk. Yet, despite poor investment returns, in 2022, 49 states still contributed enough to their pension plans to meet a key target, the net amortization benchmark, which measures whether employers’ payments are sufficient...

September 11, 2024
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11Sep

China. Lawmakers review plan to raise retirement age in fast-greying China

China's top legislative body this week assessed an official plan to delay the country's retirement age, among the world's lowest, taking a key step towards changing decades-old labour laws and easing economic pressures stemming from a shrinking workforce. The ruling Communist Party said in July that China would gradually raise the country's retirement age. The retirement age is now 60 for men, about six years below that in most developed economies, while for women in white-collar work it is 55, and 50...

September 11, 2024
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11Sep

Nordea Wins $450 Million Sustainability-Focused Equity Investment Mandate from CalSTRS

Northern Europe-based asset manager Nordea Asset Management announced that it been awarded a $450 million sustainability-focused global equity investment mandate by the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), one of the largest public pension funds in the U.S. Under the new mandate, Nordea’s Global Stars Equity Strategy to manage a portion of ClasSTRS’ Sustainability-Focused Equity portfolio. Nordea’s STARS range features ESG integration into all fundamental investment decisions, with close coordination between portfolio managers and the firm’s Responsible Investment Team. The STARS...

September 11, 2024
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11Sep

UK. State pension set to rise by £460 next year

The new full state pension is expected to rise by £460 a year from April, latest wages data suggests. Under the arrangement called the “triple lock”, the state pension goes up each year by either 2.5%, inflation, or average earnings growth – whichever is the highest figure. Earnings figures for the three months to July are used for the yearly increase, and these showed total pay rose at an annual rate of 4%, much higher than inflation. The news comes as the government...

September 11, 2024
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10Sep

Study Suggests Reforming U.S. Retirement System with Modern Framework

After studying international retirement systems, researchers from the TIAA Institute are proposing a new U.S. model featuring a “hybrid” system consisting of the best elements from defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) plans. In noting that the average retiree can now expect to spend about two decades in retirement, roughly double the time from 50 years ago, the study (The Future of Retirement Security) looks at how seven countries have adapted their retirement systems to account for these extended...

September 10, 2024
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10Sep

World’s largest pension funds return to growth

The world’s largest 300 pension funds returned to growth in 2023, erasing much of the decline of the previous year. However, the assets of the largest pension funds are still not yet back to their record highs, according to this year’s Global Top 300 Pension Funds report by leading global advisory, broking and solutions company WTW’s Thinking Ahead Institute. The research highlights high-level trends in the pension fund industry and provides information on the changing composition of the top 300 list of...

September 10, 2024
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10Sep

Reflecting on this summer’s global IT outages – lessons for pension schemes

After the Capita Cyber Security incident of March/April 2023 (which we discussed at the time here) and, more recently, BBC cyber security incident of May 2024 (which we also discussed here), the pensions industry arguably did not need another reminder of the importance of cyber security for its schemes and stakeholders. However, the global IT outage that took place this summer (July 2024) has provided another such reminder – highlighting the heavy reliance of modern society on our digital infrastructure, and equally,...

September 10, 2024
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