May 2024
22May

China’s savings rate hurts model for growing investments — PAG chair

Looking at the Chinese economy, alternative investment firm PAG doesn’t look at the trendiest sectors as investment opportunities. Instead, when the Hong Kong-based manager sees them, it knows “which sectors to avoid,” said Weijian Shan, executive chair. “Let’s say that whatever sector is hot, we typically stay away from because China is a capital-rich country,” he told attendees at the SALT iConnections New York 2024 conference on May 20. Shan described the country’s savings rate as “on a league of its...

May 22, 2024
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22May

Nigeria. Retired police officers protest unpaid pension in Abuja

RETIRED police officers in Nigeria under the contributory pension scheme, on Tuesday, May 21, expressed their displeasure over several months of unpaid pensions. The retired officers stormed the National Assembly in Abuja, to protest the “severe hardships” they had faced due to the alleged failure of the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) to pay their entitlements. The retirees representing various state chapters called on the federal government to remove them from the Contributory Pension Scheme. The retirees, seen with various placards, lamented being...

May 22, 2024
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21May

Nearly 40% of savers at risk of losing track of pensions

More than one fifth (22 per cent) of savers are unsure where their pensions are held, while a further 16 per cent don’t know, research from Hargreaves Lansdown has found. The survey found that just under two thirds (62 per cent) of people know where all their pensions are held, raising concerns that some savers could be putting their retirement at risk by losing track of their pension savings altogether. The problem lessened as savers get older, as 8 per cent...

May 21, 2024
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21May

Pension De-Risking with Lump Sum Windows

Pension plans are critical components of retirement security, yet they pose significant financial and operational risks to sponsoring organizations. The volatility of funding requirements, coupled with longevity and investment risks, compels companies to seek innovative de-risking strategies. Offering a temporary lump sum window to active employees over age 59½, as facilitated by the Miners Act of 2019, has emerged as a strategic tool for de-risking pension plans. Background The Pension Protection Act of 2006 introduced the concept of phased retirement whereby pension...

May 21, 2024
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21May

Dutch pension investor in $1bn Aus housing deal

Across three new buildings, Gurrowa Place in Melbourne will feature a 28-storey workplace, 560 build-to-rent apartments and around 1,100 student residences to be managed by Scape. Photo: Lendlease A Dutch pension investor is a stakeholder in a new partnership worth AUS$1 billion to develop purpose-built-student-accommodation across Australia. Together with APG Asset Management N.V. and global real estate investor, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Scape Australia says the new joint venture will strategically focus on urban locations close to “world-class universities” in the country. The partners said that the...

May 21, 2024
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21May

Are we moving away from paternalism in employee benefits?

Recruitment pressures, shifts in employee expectations and the sheer volume of products available mean benefits strategies are evolving. But, while the old paternalistic approach may be on its way out, employers must still be aware of their responsibilities when providing benefits. Rather than take the one-size-fits-all package, today’s employees want to be able to select benefits that are relevant to them. Carl Chapman, head of marketplace at Ben, says: “Anything other than choice and flexibility is archaic. The workforce is diverse:...

May 21, 2024
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20May

US. New York City Retirement Funds Sue Fox For “Disregarding Defamation Risk” In Election Coverage

A group of New York City pension funds, along with others from the state of Oregon, have sued Fox Corp. and its officers and directors for “consciously disregarding defamation risk.” Fox News 2020 election coverage promoted “political narratives without regard for whether the underlying factual assertions were true or based on sources worthy of credit,” opening the company to litigation. “The board of directors of a Delaware-incorporated media company cannot be indifferent to the existential threat of broadcasting or publishing...

May 20, 2024
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20May

UK. DWP checks find 63,000 breaking rules after monitoring bank accounts – are you at risk?

A test of new Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plans to monitor bank accounts has found tens of thousands of benefit claimants breaking the rules. The DWP asked two high street banks to trial the measures to assess their feasibility. One anonymous bank identified 713,000 accounts held by individuals receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit, or ESA (Employment and Support Allowance). Over a three-month period, it found that 60,000 accounts had too much money in them for the individuals to...

May 20, 2024
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20May

South Africa. New law enables pension fund members to access their savings

Pension fund members are set to access a third of their pensions within the next four months. The National Assembly unanimously approved the Pension Fund Amendment Bill after it was sent back for concurrence by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) with technical amendments. The bill, introduced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in January, provides for a “two-pots” system that divides pension contributions into two separate pots: a savings pot and a retirement pot, with effect from September. It proposes that retirement...

May 20, 2024
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20May

Why half of Japan’s cities are at risk of disappearing in 100 years

With contributions from around 370 celebrities, intellectuals and cultural figures of the time, the April 1920 edition of the now defunct Nihon Oyobi Nihonjin (Japan and the Japanese) magazine ran a special feature on what the country would look like in 100 years. Sakio Tsurumi, then-director of the government's Forestry Bureau, predicted that the nation’s population would grow nearly five-fold to around 260 million by 2020, approximately double what it actually is now. Professor Riichiro Hoashi of Waseda University expected...

May 20, 2024
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