December 2022
19Dec

Ghana. Debt Exchange Programme Extended to December Ending

The expiration date of the Debt Exchange Programme (DEP) has been extended to the end of December this year, the Ministry of Finance, has announced. It said in view of the of the festive season, the government had decided to extend the Expiration Date of the voluntary offer to Friday December 30, 2022, with a contemplated settlement date on Friday January 6th, 2023. The voluntary programme should have expired today December 19, 2022. A statement issued by the Ministry of Finance in...

December 19, 2022
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16Dec

U.S. public pension funding improves in November – Milliman

The overall estimated funding ratio of the 100 largest U.S. public pension plans rose to 74.7% at the end of November thanks to positive market returns, according to the Milliman 100 Public Pension Funding index. During the month of November, Milliman estimated that public pension plans had an aggregate investment return of 4.7%, with an estimated range of 2.5% to 7.2%. It was the second month in a row that estimated funding ratios rose because of market returns. Milliman estimated that...

December 16, 2022
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16Dec

UK. British Airways signs agreement under New Airways Pension Scheme

British Airways has signed an agreement with the trustee of its New Airways Pension Scheme (NAPS) on the scheme's triennial valuation, the airline's owner IAG said on Thursday. The valuation, based on the scheme's funding position as of March 31, 2021, shows an agreed technical provisions deficit of 1.65 billion pounds ($2.01 billion), compared with a deficit of 2.4 billion pounds as of March 31, 2018. Under the terms of the agreement, British Airways will not pay a dividend in 2022...

December 16, 2022
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16Dec

Malawi. Parliament passes Pensions amendment Bill

Parliament yesterday passed the Pensions Amendment Bill which, among others, provides for increasing the proportion of pension benefits to be paid as a lump sum at retirement from 40 to 50 percent. The bill also seeks to repeal the Pensions Act and replace it with a new piece of legislation. The new law—if assented to by President Lazarus Chakwera—will reportedly address current implementation challenges in the pension sector, enhance coverage of the pension sector and strengthen compliance and supervision over entities...

December 16, 2022
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16Dec

South Korea pension fund opens up FX hedging limit to maximum 10%

South Korea's mammoth state pension fund will hedge foreign exchange risks for up to 10% of its overseas investment compared with zero up to now, the welfare ministry said on Friday, a move expected to ease dollar demand on the onshore FX market. The fund has grown in size and its increasing purchases of dollars for investment abroad have been blamed for exacerbating the dollar/won's already rising trend in recent months. South Korea's currency hit its weakest level in 13...

December 16, 2022
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16Dec

US. Republicans introduce SEC oversight bill

As Republicans prepare to take control of the House next month, a trio a GOP lawmakers introduced a bill signaling added oversight and scrutiny coming to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Review the Expansion of Government Act, or REG Act, introduced Wednesday by Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif.; Rep. French Hill, R-Ariz.; and Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., would require the SEC to review every final rule it promulgates every three years after implementation. The agency would be required to create a...

December 16, 2022
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15Dec

Regulators set sights on hedge funds after UK pension crisis

Britain's markets watchdog is working with overseas regulators to look at other stresses in the global financial system, such as leveraged hedge funds, its chief executive said on Wednesday, following a pensions crisis in late September. A radical tax-cutting budget in September by former Prime Minister Liz Truss's government triggered a jump in British government bond yields, which forced defined benefit, or final salary pension schemes to raise cash quickly to meet margin calls on liability-driven investment (LDI) derivatives positions....

December 15, 2022
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15Dec

Swiss pension fund association lays out ESG reporting standards

The Swiss pension fund association ASIP has published reporting guidelines for Pensionskassen investments following ESG standards that will apply from 1 January. The ESG reporting guidelines include the disclosure of qualitative information on how pension funds deal with this topic, and quantitative information on individual investments. According to the guidelines, Pensionskassen would publilsh qualitative statements on the goals and principles of their sustainability strategies, underlining for example if they are anchored to investment rules, and the investment approaches for different asset...

December 15, 2022
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15Dec

Departing Hong Kong residents took $378 million from pensions in Q3

Residents leaving Hong Kong for good withdrew a total of HK$2.177 billion (S$378 million) from their pension accounts in the third quarter of 2022, down 16.4 per cent from a year earlier, government data showed on Thursday. A total of 8,600 claims to withdraw from the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) were made in the July-September quarter, compared with the 9,300 claims taking out HK$2.604 billion during the same period in 2021. The figure also compared with 8,600 claims in the April-June...

December 15, 2022
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15Dec

Fintech Is Coming For Benefits: Best Practices For Employers

Fintech is increasingly touching every aspect of our lives, from retail to banking to blockchain, and now it’s coming for employee benefits. But how could fintech innovation change employer benefits? Employee benefits are essentially a payment or subsidy to employees—with some strings attached. They can apply this payment to specific areas, such as health, student loan debt, 401(k) plans, transportation and more. Benefits are among the biggest drivers of why employees choose companies—and stay. Yet benefits plans remain, in many instances,...

December 15, 2022
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