April 2021
21Apr

China’s Coming Pro-Natalist Campaign

Birth rates in China are crashing. Last year, they fell to the lowest level since Mao Zedong founded the modern Chinese state in 1949. This poses immense long-term challenges for everything from pensions to labor markets. Beijing’s leaders realize this. This is why China’s notorious “one-child policy” was loosened nationwide to a two-child one back in 2015. Read also Asia Is Increasing Its ESG Asset Appetite But the next step will be far more dramatic. After decades of attempting to limit births,...

April 21, 2021
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21Apr

UK. Retirement app Pensionbee valued at £365m in London listing

Online pension management app Pensionbee (PBEE.L) has joined the London Stock Exchange in an IPO that values the business at £365m ($507m). The retirement savings app priced its shares at 165p each on Wednesday, the company said in a filing. Conditional trading began on Wednesday, with shares trading slightly below the offer price by mid-morning. Read also Vanguard launches price war in UK pensions market Pensionbee raised around £55m via the sale of 33m new shares and the sale of over 2...

April 21, 2021
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21Apr

Canada. CDPQ Real Estate arm ties staff pay to ESG goals in zero emissions push

Ivanhoe Cambridge, the real estate arm of Canada's second-largest pension fund, has tied employee and executive remuneration to hitting environmental targets as it commits to cut net carbon emissions to zero by 2040, its CEO said on Tuesday. Chief Executive Officer Nathalie Palladitcheff said Ivanhoe, which owns 1,100 properties globally, will add C$6 billion ($4.8 billion) in low carbon investments and, as an interim target, reduce carbon intensity by 35% by 2025. Since January, employee pay at Ivanhoe, including all its...

April 21, 2021
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20Apr

UK. Industry tightens up on pension scams as losses hit £10bn

Pension schemes face tougher due diligence requirements on transfer requests as new figures show the amount lost to pension scams and fraud has hit £10 billion five years after the introduction of the pension freedoms. Regulators, courts and The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) have all made significant statements in recent months which cover both the fall-out from previous scams and the prevention of future scams. In its recent report, the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee called on the government...

April 20, 2021
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20Apr

US. DOL Issues Cybersecurity Best Practices for Retirement Plans

The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) on April 14 issued much-anticipated cybersecurity guidance for employee retirement plans. The essence of the guidance is that responsible plan fiduciaries have an obligation to ensure proper mitigation of cybersecurity risks. Read also Comfortable retirement still on track for most Americans despite pandemic – survey EBSA set out in the following materials on its website, although the "Online Security Tips" are directed more to plan participants than plan fiduciaries: Read also The...

April 20, 2021
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20Apr

Uganda To Train Pension Trustees

The Insurance Training College and Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA) have unveiled the commencement of a trustees training and certification programme intended to improve and enhance the professionalism of pension saving scheme trustees. According to the press statement, the training will be conducted by the institute on behalf of URBRA. The training is in line with the mandate of the Institute: promoting professionalism in the financial services sector as well as URBRA’s mandate of improving and promoting the development of...

April 20, 2021
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20Apr

A Fintech Revolution: How The Pandemic Accelerated The Adoption Of Digital Solutions

I don't know about you, but I haven't used the cash in my wallet since the onset of the lockdowns in March 2020. And I don't miss it at all. I've found that the digital financial life is fast, safe and provides easy ways to track. Digital, mobile and social channels are an indispensable part of everyday life. This was true before the pandemic but is even more definitive now. Economic lockdowns, social distancing and remote work have all contributed...

April 20, 2021
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19Apr

Asia Is Increasing Its ESG Asset Appetite

Sustainability funds explode onto the global financial scene, and the momentum is not stopping anytime soon. JPMorgan’s head of environmental, social, and governance research Elaine Wu pointed out that sustainability funds doubled in 2020, and the market segment could double again in Asia, CNBC reports. Read also Fintech but make it eco-friendly. “We’ve seen the amount of asset under management dedicated to ESG investing double in the last year,” Wu told CNBC. “We expect that to double again, in Asia, for the coming...

April 19, 2021
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19Apr

Vanguard launches price war in UK pensions market

Vanguard has launched its financial advice service in the UK, charging an 'all-inclusive' ongoing fee of 0.79 per cent. The headline cost will incorporate annual platform charges of 0.15 per cent, ongoing fund charges of 0.12 per cent, transaction costs and an advice fee of 0.5 per cent. Vanguard said it would not charge an initial, or any other, fee. The service will be targeted at clients with assets of £50,000 or more. The company is to focus on providing restricted advice...

April 19, 2021
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19Apr

Fintech but make it eco-friendly.

Green finance has long been becoming more and more popular as the race to save our planet is increasingly important. For years now we’ve heard about how we all need to do our bit to slow the rapid pace of global warming and it seems like the message has taken a hold of the fintech world. There’s a growing trend among firms in the sector to operate in a more eco-conscious manner, from planting trees to offering fossil-fuel-free investment options, the...

April 19, 2021
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