News Archives - Page 256 of 966 - Pension Policy International

31JanJanuary 31, 2024

Australia regulator scrutinises pension funds over unlisted asset pricing

Australia's prudential regulator said on Wednesday it will review how sections of the A$2.5 trillion ($1.7 trillion) pension fund sector value unlisted assets and that it is already working with several funds whose practices need to improve. As part of its supervision priorities for the next six months, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority said it will conduct a "deep dive review" into valuation practices at a number of large and mid-sized pension funds. The unnamed funds have material holdings of unlisted...

January 31, 2024

NewsAustralia, Investment, Regulation

30JanJanuary 30, 2024

UK. DWP confirms final DB funding regulations

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has published the final Occupational Pension Schemes (Funding and Investment Strategy and Amendment) Regulations 2024, which are set to come into force from April 2024. The final regulations set out the requirements for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes when determining their funding and investment strategy and statement of strategy, and will apply to scheme valuations from September 2024. Industry experts previously raised concerns over a potential mismatch between the DB regulations and The Pensions...

January 30, 2024

NewsFunding, Regulation, UK

30JanJanuary 30, 2024

South Korea. NPS Achieved Impressive 9.88% Annual Return Last Year, Approaching 1 Quadrillion Won Mark

As of November last year, the National Pension Fund’s (NPS) rate of return approached double digits. Despite concerns about a global economic downturn, the strength of the stock market resulted in the evaluation of the fund’s assets surging to nearly 1 quadrillion won. The NPS Investment Management disclosed on Jan. 29 that the cumulative rate of return for the fund until November last year stood at 9.88 percent. This figure represents a notable increase from the cumulative return of 6.75...

January 30, 2024

NewsPension Management, Returns, South Korea

30JanJanuary 30, 2024

US. What’s the average 401(k) balance by age?

The amount of money you’ll need to retire comfortably depends on several factors, such as where you plan to live and how much you plan to spend. But experts say it’s important to save for the future now — especially because one of the main advantages of 401(k) workplace retirement plans is that your money benefits from compound returns, growing via the financial markets over time. “The sooner 401(k) participants start to save, the more realistic their retirement goals will...

January 30, 2024

Newssavings, US

30JanJanuary 30, 2024

Where Pension Incentive Pay Makes Sense — and Doesn’t

By Girard Miller To continue a theme I introduced in my last column, the compensation structures for public pension professionals will need a tune-up if we expect them to deliver superior investment returns. The first steps toward performance improvement don’t require a lot of money — just a willingness to bump up the salaries of those with proven investment IQs as demonstrated through relevant credentialing programs. Beyond that, however, it gets much trickier for the plans seeking to deliver optimal performance in...

January 30, 2024

News, OP Ed, Op-EdPension design, Pension Management

29JanJanuary 29, 2024

DC funds more open to real assets: Aviva

Seven in 10 defined contribution (DC) schemes plan to increase allocations to real assets in the next two years, according to new research from Aviva Investors. The company’s latest Real Assets Study found that 69% of corporate DC schemes planned to increase their allocation to asset classes such as property and infrastructure over the next 24 months. This was up from 51% in the 2023 edition of the study. The survey included schemes from the UK, Europe, Asia Pacific and...

January 29, 2024

NewsInvestment

29JanJanuary 29, 2024

Ghana. Health sector occupational pension scheme launches new mobile app to enhance services

Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme (HSOPS) has launched a new mobile application to enhance services to its tier-two pension scheme beneficiaries. The mobile application will allow beneficiaries to access and update their information, follow up on their contributions as they are provided with in-dept analysis of their investments. It also provides a link to the HSOPS website which connects every member to the main database where each member could track their contributions, access and print membership certificates, make benefit projections and...

January 29, 2024

NewsGhana, Technology

29JanJanuary 29, 2024

UK. Privately educated adults ‘more likely to have learned about pensions at school’

People who attended a private school are more likely to say they learned about pensions at school (20%) than those who were state-educated (6%), a survey has indicated. More than two-fifths (42%) of privately educated 35 to 44-year-olds said they reviewed or reassessed their pension pot at least once a year, compared with less than a fifth (17%) of state school-educated peers of the same age. Privately educated people were also more likely to hold private pensions outside of employment-linked pensions (40%),...

January 29, 2024

NewsAdequacy, Financial Education, Financial Literacy, Income, UK

26JanJanuary 26, 2024

Funding ratio of largest U.S. public pension plans hits 78.2% at year-end – Milliman

The overall estimated funding ratio of the 100 largest U.S. public pension plans reached 78.2% at the end of December, the highest level of 2023, according to the Milliman 100 Public Pension Funding index. After three straight months of declines due to negative market returns in August through October, the estimated ratio rose for the second straight month in December. As of Nov. 30, the estimated ratio has risen to 75.9% from 72.4% at the end of October. The late-year rally...

January 26, 2024

NewsFunding, Public Pensions, US

26JanJanuary 26, 2024

Measuring the unintended consequences of public pension fund disinvestment from fossil fuel companies

Environmentalists are pursuing new strategies to pressure major polluters to decarbonise, including calling for widespread disinvestment from companies currently in the fossil fuel business. This column presents evidence that this strategy may be misguided. Focusing on public pension funds in the US, the authors find that companies reduced their greenhouse gas emissions when stock ownership by green funds increased, and did not alter their emissions when ownership by non-green funds changed. Ownership and constructive engagement were more effective than...

January 26, 2024

NewsClimate crisis, Investment

January 2024