December 2022
12Dec

UK. Three reasons to get excited about pensions dashboards

Pensions dashboards have been a long time in the making, but the Department for Work and Pensions is now driving this project through to fruition. Over recent months there has been significant steps forward. The official timetable has been set and large occupational schemes and all types of personal pensions have to connect by next summer. A year of testing follows that and once more than 90 per cent of schemes are connected, dashboards will be launched onto an unsuspecting public. Well,...

December 12, 2022
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12Dec

Lagos approves N707m pension bailout for parastatals

The Commissioner for Establishments, Training And Pensions, Mrs Ajibola Ponnle, has said Lagos State government approved a bailout of N707.62m for some parastatals to pay the pensions of their retirees. She disclosed the bailout of the parastatals that could not raise the funds at the 98th batch retirement bond certificate presentation ceremony in Lagos on Friday. “In line with his administration’s vision to cater to its employees even in retirement, Mr Governor also recently approved the appeal for a bailout by...

December 12, 2022
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09Dec

President Joe Biden announces 36-billion federal aid struggling central states

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has approved $36 billion in federal assistance to shore up a massive union multiemployer pension plan facing steep cuts. Teamsters Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund, Chicago, will receive the funds under the Special Financial Assistance Program. The program, created by the American Rescue Plan Act that Democrats passed in March 2021, was designed to shore up struggling multiemployer pension plans through 2051. The PBGC estimates...

December 9, 2022
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09Dec

French government prepares high-stakes pension reform

The French government is consulting unions and potential allies to see if it could get a highly unpopular pension reform adopted by a fragmented parliament without causing mass protests that could paralyse the country. Details of the reform are expected to be unveiled on Dec. 15 but President Emmanuel Macron has made clear the French will have to work longer, with legal retirement age potentially pushed by as much as three years to 65. Opinion polls show the vast majority...

December 9, 2022
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09Dec

UK. Mystery of missing state pension credits deepens, as DWP and HMRC fob people off with a legion of excuses over incorrect records

Savers with holes in their state pension records are being stonewalled by staff in three separate Government departments, who have all refused to help them. After we revealed a mystery 'glitch' in the state pension system, many readers got in touch to say their valuable National Insurance credits were missing - contradicting the Government which had told us there was no indication of a wider issue. Eamon Campbell, pictured right, turned 66 in February and is two years short of getting...

December 9, 2022
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09Dec

Kenya. World Bank backs bid to raise NSSF contributions

The World Bank has backed Kenya’s efforts to increase pension contributions by workers to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) from the current Sh200 per month to six per cent of monthly pay. This is a boost to the Kenya Kwanza administration’s push for enhanced pension savings with employees’ monthly contribution to NSSF expected to rise ten-fold to Sh2,000, with employers expected to match this amount. President William Ruto’s push for increased contribution to the provident fund has already been endorsed...

December 9, 2022
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09Dec

U.S. corporate pension plans’ funding ratios remained over or near 100% in November

U.S. corporate pension plans' funding ratios remained over or near 100% in November, but four reports said ratios dropped slightly because rising discount rates offset strong investment returns for the period. The estimated funding ratio of the 100 largest U.S. corporate pension funds fell to 111.2% as of Nov. 30, down from 113.3% as of Oct. 31, according to the latest Milliman 100 Pension Funding index. The slight dip was driven by the discount rate decreasing to 5.16% as of Nov....

December 9, 2022
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08Dec

Vanguard quits Net Zero Asset Managers initiative

Vanguard Group is leaving an asset managers initiative committed to net-zero goals and will pursue similar objectives independently, it said Wednesday in a statement on its website. With roughly $8.1 trillion under management, Vanguard was one of the largest members of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, which as of November had 291 signatories with a collective $66 trillion under management, committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Vanguard said in its statement that it was withdrawing from the initiative it...

December 8, 2022
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08Dec

BlackRock adding ESG policy to its flagship U.K. DC strategy

BlackRock is formally incorporating an ESG policy into its flagship defined contribution strategy in the U.K., the asset manager said in a news release Wednesday. The LifePath U.K. series of target-date funds launched in 1997 had £9.2 billion ($10 billion) in assets under management as of Sept. 30. It provides access to 11 asset classes through index funds. Adding the ESG policy "is a continuation and evolution of LifePath U.K.'s ESG journey, which began in 2019, and reflects scheme members' requirements...

December 8, 2022
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08Dec

Canada’s biggest pension plan, CPPI, ends crypto investment pursuit

Canada's biggest pension fund, CPP Investments, has ended its effort to study investment opportunities in the volatile crypto market, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The reasons behind CPPI's abandonment of crypto research were not immediately clear. CPPI declined to comment but said it has made no direct investments in crypto. It referred to previous comments on cryptocurrency by its CEO, John Graham, in which he sounded a note of caution. Read also Swedish pension funds invest in cryptocurrency CPPI's...

December 8, 2022
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