April 2022
22Apr

UK. TPR issues Contribution Notice following “inappropriate” management buy-out

Scharf AG, a German mining equipment business, has received a notice from TPR to contribute just over £2m to the pension scheme of its former subsidiary. This blog post will be relevant if you are considering corporate transactions and operate a DB pension scheme in the UK. This case shows the importance of taking specialist advice on TPR’s wide powers to protect pension savers. Background In 2013, Scharf sold a UK subsidiary business (the Dosco Group, which was a manufacturer and supplier...

April 22, 2022
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21Apr

China to implement private pension system with a contribution cap of about $1,800 a year: report

China will soon start a new era of "private pensions" with the imminent implementation of a relevant mechanism, according to a report by the Shanghai Securities News published on Wednesday. The new mechanism, which is characterized by policy support from the government, voluntary participation and market-oriented operations, will be an important transformation of the current pension system that has a basic pension insurance and a corporate pension. According to the report, those who contribute to the basic pension insurance for workers...

April 21, 2022
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21Apr

US. Inflation is taking a big bite from retirees’ pension income

Most pensions, unlike Social Security payments, don’t offer a cost-of-living adjustment that keeps pace with the current inflation rate. State and local government pensions typically offer up to a 2% or 3% adjustment a year. Private-sector employers that still provide pensions, however, typically don’t offer a COLA at all. There may be a tension between enhancing a pension’s adjustment and maintaining the plan’s longer-term financial health. Inflation is taking a substantial bite from the income retirees get from pensions. Many...

April 21, 2022
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21Apr

UK. Workplace pension of £65,400 in public sector six times more than private average

The number of people saving in workplace pensions has risen slightly, with the average pension value standing at £65,400 in the public sector compared to just £10,300 in the private sector. Overall, 79% of eligible employees, or 22.6 million, were participating in a workplace pension in April 2021, up slightly from 78% in 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS said that the growth was partly explained by “increased public sector employment driven by the government's response...

April 21, 2022
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21Apr

Bahrain’s SIO announces 6% retroactive pension rise deposited

Bahrain - Social Insurance Organisation (SIO) CEO Eman Mustafa Al Murbati announced that a six per cent retroactive pension increase of retirees from January 2021 to April 2022 have been deposited in their accounts, as per the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister. The directives align with reforms to the retirement and social insurance pensions. The CEO expressed her gratitude to His Majesty King Hamad for ratifying and promulgating Law No....

April 21, 2022
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21Apr

UK. Union threatens to sue over Uber’s failure to offer ‘sharia compliant’ pension plan for Muslim majority workforce

The gig economy workers’ union has threatened to take Uber to court over its failure to offer a “sharia compliant” pension plan for its Muslim majority workforce. The App Drivers & Couriers Union (ADCU) has threatened to sue Uber for failing to provide a pension offering that complies with the tenets of Islamic beliefs, after claiming that the firm’s failure to do so breaches UK equality laws. The ADCU called on Uber to take action within the next 14 days to...

April 21, 2022
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20Apr

Japan eyes expansion of workers’ insurance scheme

The Japanese government is reportedly discussing plans to expand the coverage of its employee pensions and health insurance programs to all workers in the country. The proposal will be initially handled by a government panel of experts on Japan’s social security system for all generations, The Japan Times reported. In June, Tokyo plans to decide on the direction for the insurance system covering all workers and have it reflected in its honebuto, or basic economic and fiscal policy guidelines. This follows the...

April 20, 2022
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20Apr

What does the future of ESG disclosure look like?

For trustees, the rise of environmental, social and governance factors within the pensions sector has resulted in a shift in agendas, with compliance and regulatory matters growing in prominence. Fifty-three per cent of trustee boards now consider ESG an important agenda item, according to research produced by the Pensions Management Institute and BMO Global Asset Management in 2021. This is up markedly from 2020, when ESG was important for just 29 per cent of trustee boards. With current regulatory shifts and changes...

April 20, 2022
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20Apr

Ghana. Access to pension benefits now easier – NPRA

The Chief Executive Officer of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority, (NPRA), Hayford Attah-Krufi, has stated that pensioners do not need lawyers to access their pension benefits after retirement. Mr Attah-Krufi said the days when pensioners had to go through severe struggle to access their benefits were over as pragmatic measures had been put in place for pensioners to access their benefits at ease. He said the authority had directed the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to fast-track the claim...

April 20, 2022
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20Apr

US. 2022 HSA Conference: HSA Education and Communication

Without significant education, many employees do not understand their HSA benefits. They often get them confused with flexible spending accounts, for example, or they fail to see how HSAs could affect their own circumstances with regard to financial wellness and retirement savings. This was the conclusion of a panel of industry experts at the 2022 PLANSPONSOR-PLANADVISER HSA Conference, which discussed the “what,” “how” and “when” for HSA education and communication. The goal of the discussion was to help plan advisers,...

April 20, 2022
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