March 2023
14Mar

Pensions Lose Millions After Bank Collapse

Pensions across the globe have lost millions of dollars due to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). In the wake of SVB's Friday closure, several pension funds in the U.S. and two overseas have confirmed that they had investments in SVB stock that will likely be at a loss now that the bank has been shut down by federal regulators. Just before the weekend, a bank run sent the San Fransisco-based financial institution plunging into crisis as depositors made mass...

March 14, 2023
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14Mar

China to raise retirement age to deal with aging population – media

China is planning to raise its retirement age gradually and in phases to cope with the country's rapidly aging population, the state-backed Global Times said on Tuesday, citing a senior expert from China's Ministry of Human Resources. Jin Weigang, president of the Chinese Academy of Labor and Social Security Sciences, said China was eyeing a "progressive, flexible and differentiated path to raising the retirement age", meaning that it would be delayed initially by a few months, which would be subsequently...

March 14, 2023
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14Mar

UK. DB Pension Risk Transfers May Slow Due to Lack of Liquidity

High interest rates have made it a good time for some defined benefit plan sponsors to transfer pension risk, but a liquidity pinch may be delaying or altogether shutting off the window, according to experts who spoke at PLANADVISER’s virtual DB Summit last week. The interest rate hikes, which the Federal Reserve started about a year ago to try and tame inflation, have brought present liability down for many plans, said Gloria Griesinger, assistant treasurer for global pension investments and...

March 14, 2023
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14Mar

East Asia grapples with an aging society

The elderly population in East Asia is swelling as the birth rate continues to decline. The region now has the world's lowest fertility rate, raising fears of social and economic woes, especially for its youth. "I'm afraid to have children," Seha [surname withheld], a resident of Seoul, the South Korean capital, told DW. Although she feels it would bring her happiness, the 22-year-old believes that having children could stop her from pursuing her career. "I've seen many married women quit their...

March 14, 2023
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13Mar

GOP lawmaker says US should consider raising retirement age for future Social Security beneficiaries

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina said Sunday that raising the retirement age for future Social Security beneficiaries should be “on the table” as long as it doesn’t affect “anybody that’s heading into retirement right now.” “I think that’s something that has to be on the table, we have to look at,” Mace told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “State of the Union” when asked about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s call for a higher retirement age for Americans who...

March 13, 2023
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13Mar

Spain, Commission agree to controversial pension reform

The government and the European Commission reached a last-minute agreement on a controversial pension system reform which paves the way for Madrid to receive the next tranches of the EU’s Next Generation funds. After months of work and tangible divergences between the two coalition partners, PSOE (S&D) and Unidas Podemos (EU Left), the government struck a deal on Friday, partially softening the coalition’s rift currently in. The reform, agreed with the European Commission, is part of the several milestones committed by...

March 13, 2023
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13Mar

ESG, stable returns moving pension plans to real assets

Investing in agricultural land and agricultural activities is another area serving as a diversifier for DB plans in part due to heightened prices for grain and protein products, which in turn has boosted farm income to unprecedented levels, according to Mayssa Al Midani and Alex Howson, managers of the Pictet nutrition strategy, which invests in sustainable food production. The fund has $2.5 billion in assets under management. Though the returns are closely tied to the commodity cycle, the value of...

March 13, 2023
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10Mar

French Senate votes to raise retirement age from 62 to 64 amid nationwide strikes

France's Senate voted Thursday to raise the retirement age by two years to 64, as the government moves to overhaul the country's pensions system in the face of strong opposition from labour unions. The conservative-dominated legislative body voted in favour of a decisive article to raise the age of retirement by 201 votes to 115. Debate will resume later on Thursday over a controversial amendment to the bill. The Senate majority is rushing to meet a deadline of midnight Sunday to finalise...

March 10, 2023
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10Mar

I chair the investment committee of America’s second-largest pension fund. Here’s why savvy investors back the SEC’s proposed ESG disclosure rules

As the nation deals with floods, fires, and other extreme weather events fueled by climate change, it may come as a surprise that relatively little is known about one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions: publicly held companies. That is because there are no federal rules requiring these major drivers of the nation’s economy to disclose critical information about the impact of climate on their businesses. With more than half of U.S. households invested in the stock market,...

March 10, 2023
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10Mar

Nigeria. Pension Fund Assets Increase By ₦568.33b – PenCom Boss

It appears that are days of enjoyment waiting Nigerian pensioners and the stories of months of wait pay will be over. The pension fund in Nigeria is real growing. There is something that the Director-General (DG) of Pension Commission Aisha Dahir-Umar, wants you to know. It is about the pensioners money that is now available. He says the Pension Fund Assets under Management (AuM) increased by ₦568.33 billion from ₦14.42 trillion as at September 30 to ₦14.99 trillion as at December...

March 10, 2023
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