August 2024
20Aug

China plans ‘bigger, stronger’ social security fund to aid ageing society

China will beef up its 2.88 trillion yuan ($406 billion) social security fund, making it "bigger and stronger" to help support its rapidly ageing population as the number of new births and younger workforce to support its seniors shrinks. The National Social Security Fund will "effectively" respond to population ageing and "improve the policy mechanism for the development of the elderly care industry," the fund's party secretary Ding Xuedong said in comments made in Communist Party newspaper, the Study Times...

August 20, 2024
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20Aug

Australian super fund titans back Prime Minister’s green manufacturing plan

Some of Australia’s super funds have for the first time backed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s plan to stimulate green manufacturing industries, saying it would unlock private capital to help cut emissions and reach climate targets, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The Albanese government hopes to pass the Future Made in Australia bill, designed to stimulate domestic manufacturing and high-tech industry in a similar fashion to the U.S.’s Inflation Reduction Act, by the end of the year. The plan is...

August 20, 2024
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20Aug

Ghana. Government, CETAG reach agreement: strike resolution imminent

The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has reached a tentative agreement with the government following successful negotiations on Monday (19 August). The meeting included representatives from MELRP, the Ministry of Education (MoE), the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), the Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF), and CETAG. During the talks, the government agreed to unfreeze CETAG members’ July salaries, provided the association calls off its two-month-long strike, which has disrupted...

August 20, 2024
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20Aug

German CDU party marks retirement age as priority in pension policy plan

The German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party has placed increasing retirement age on top of its list of priorities for its pension policy programme, if it wins the general election next year. “Adjusting the retirement age to life expectancy must be [included] both in the government programme and in the party’s manifesto (Grundsatzprogramm),” said Gitta Connemann, chair of the Mittelstands und Wirtschaftsunion (MIT), the pro-business political association of the CDU and its ally Christian Social Union (CSU), in an interview with the Frankfurter...

August 20, 2024
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19Aug

UK. Pension review to start with consolidation of DC market

The first phase of the government’s pensions review will include driving scale and consolidation of defined contribution workplace schemes. Announced on Friday (August 16), the initial phase also aims to tackle fragmentation and inefficiency in the local government pension scheme through consolidation and governance. Experts have urged the government to keep the interests of savers at the forefront. In addition, it will look at the structure of the pensions ecosystem and achieving a greater focus on value to deliver better outcomes for...

August 19, 2024
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19Aug

How to solve the crisis of the pension system in the EU?

The demographic time bomb in Europe has been ticking for decades. The countries of the European Union are getting older, and people are living longer. More than a fifth of the population of the European Union is now aged 65 or over. That number is expected to grow to a third by 2050. Last year, the World Health Organization warned that in 2024, the number of people over the age of 65 will exceed the number of people under the...

August 19, 2024
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19Aug

Low financial literacy leaves Kenya’s pension coverage at 26%

By MARTIN MWITA   Low financial literacy and awareness among the Kenyan population is to blame for the low pension coverage in the country which remains at a low of 26 per cent, industry players now say. A huge number of Kenyans also work in the informal sector, where pension schemes are either unavailable or underutilised. Without targeted interventions, these individuals remain vulnerable, lacking the financial safety net that pensions provide, the Association of Pension Trustees and Administrators of Kenya (APTAK) has noted. The association...

August 19, 2024
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19Aug

Hong Kong’s pension regulator to give members bigger say in picking providers, investments

Hong Kong will undertake further reforms to the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) to enable employees to switch service providers and widen real estate investment trust (Reit) choices following the successful introduction of the eMPF Platform. The eMPF's introduction in June has improved the administrative process while supporting the switching of MPF providers, Ayesha Macpherson Lau, chairwoman of the Mandatory Provident Fund Authority (MPFA), said in a small group interview. In addition, the abolition of an offset mechanism that allowed bosses to dip into...

August 19, 2024
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16Aug

South Africa. Should government use pensions to fund it projects?

Government forcing pension funds to invest in its projects have long been a discussion in South Africa and the ANC promised to implement it after the elections to pay for economic development and industrialisation. Dr David Masondo, deputy minister of finance, said at an Old Mutual event on Tuesday that government is committed to respect the investment mandates of pension funds to increase investment turnover based on acceptable risk. Then he referred to Regulation 28 of the the Pension Funds Act that...

August 16, 2024
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16Aug

UK. Retirement planning issues for women

All federal employees need education, and most would benefit from some experienced assistance when planning for retirement. This is true at every stage of their careers, regardless of age or gender. Today I want to highlight some issues unique to federally employed women. According to the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, there are five retirement challenges that many women face when planning for their future. Here is a modified version of this list as it may impact you, as a...

August 16, 2024
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