June 2023
14Jun

Akio Toyoda reelected Toyota chairman despite pension funds’ governance concerns

Toyota Motor weathered an unprecedented showdown with investors at its annual general meeting on Wednesday as shareholders approved former President Akio Toyoda's nomination to the board and rejected a proposal demanding better disclosure on climate lobbying activities. Proxy advisers, U.S. pension funds and European asset managers criticized the automaker's insufficient corporate governance and environmental efforts, heaping pressure on a fledgling management team already facing intensifying industry competition in electric vehicles. "The new management is able to get to a start thanks...

June 14, 2023
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13Jun

US Pension Funded Status Continues to Improve in May

Despite negative returns for many asset classes in the stock market, decreasing liabilities resulted in U.S. corporate pension funded status improvements in May, according to analysts. Pension discount rates rose almost one-quarter of a percentage point in May, erasing much of the fall in rates that had been seen so far this year, according to Agilis’s May Pension Briefing. This boost in funded status comes on the heels of a strong April for pension plans, as an increasing number of pension...

June 13, 2023
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13Jun

EU. Bureau adopts measures to put MEPs’ pension scheme on a more sustainable path

Confirming its decision on 22 May, the Bureau modified the conditions of the voluntary pension fund closed in 2009 to put it on a more sustainable path. The voluntary pension fund was created in 1990, when there was no single statute for MEPs. The fund was closed in 2009, which meant that no MEPs could join the scheme as of 2009 when the new MEPs' single statute entered into force. From the moment she came in office, President Metsola tasked the...

June 13, 2023
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13Jun

Confronting aging: How LGBTQ+ seniors can tackle their special caregiving challenges

Margaret Roesch, 67, and her wife, Pat McAulay, 68, wanted to have a supportive community around them as they grew older. So they helped to create a cohousing development for LGBTQ+ seniors and allies, making it easier to offer support to one another. “We said we don’t want to have to go back in the closet when we get older,” Roesch said from the front porch of her home in Durham, North Carolina. Opened in 2020, the Village Hearth is a...

June 13, 2023
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13Jun

UK pension fund fights appeal in landmark fossil fuels lawsuit

Britain's biggest private pension scheme on Tuesday asked a London court to block a landmark lawsuit over its alleged failure to devise a credible plan to divest from fossil fuels. The 82 billion-pound ($103 billion) Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is facing legal action from two of its members over its continuing investments in coal, natural gas and petroleum. The lawsuit was blocked last year by London's High Court, but the two academics behind the claim asked the Court of Appeal to...

June 13, 2023
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12Jun

UK. What can be done about the ‘great gender pension chasm’?

Thank you for the depiction of the “great gender pension chasm”, (Women’s private pensions worth 35% less than men’s in Great Britain, 5 June). It is something we’ve long been concerned about and tracked for a number of years, examining how it has persistently shaped women’s retirement prospects for the worse. The vast inequality between private pension pots for men and women is alarming. The findings of the latest Department for Work and Pensions gender pension report show the need...

June 12, 2023
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12Jun

US. Social Security’s woes highlight need for holistic plan

Given Social Security's uncertain future, defined contribution executives say that it's important for plan sponsors to offer participants holistic retirement planning and encourage additional savings. The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, which covers retirees and their families, is now set to reach depletion in 2033, according to an April report from the Social Security Board of Trustees. If that happens, the trust's income would be able to pay 77% of its scheduled benefits, the report states. A reduction in Social...

June 12, 2023
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12Jun

South Africa: ‘Two-Pot’ Retirement System to Kick in On 1 March 2024 – Here’s How It Will Work

The draft legislation governing the first phase of the proposed two-pot system has been published and is open for comment. The long-awaited draft legislation with more details regarding the roll-out of the "two-pot" retirement system was published on Friday afternoon. The changes are being introduced in response to consumers' dire financial stress during the Covid pandemic, when many were unable to access their retirement savings despite having no other money to turn to. The implementation date remains 1 March 2024, and the...

June 12, 2023
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12Jun

China. TV series set to teach elderly people about health

China's first TV series popularizing health information for the elderly premiered in Shanghai on Wednesday. The 10-episode series, which takes a lighthearted approach, focuses on helping the elderly understand common acute and severe threats to health, as well as chronic diseases in a scientific way, and also teaches them how to take precautions just in case. The show is the joint creation of Huashan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University and the Shanghai Theatre Academy and is titled Ms Kang and Her...

June 12, 2023
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09Jun

U.S. public pension funds look to ramp up scenario modeling, stress-testing spending

The vast majority of U.S. public pension funds plan to increase spending on scenario modeling and stress testing in the next two years, according to a report from Rotterdam, Netherlands-based risk management consultant Ortec Finance. According to interviews conducted in February with 50 fund executives overseeing a total of $1.315 trillion in assets, 90% plan to increase spending on those items to help manage market volatility. "Many pension plans saw the value of their assets fall last year in what was...

June 9, 2023
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