March 2021
22Mar

UK. Emerging passive investing risks a new concern

Investment consultants around the globe are asking their pension fund clients to think carefully about two very real concerns that have emerged in passive investing: ESG-related and concentration risks. Some pension fund clients have heeded their advice, reconsidering whether they should be implementing some kind of ESG tilt to their benchmarks and in other cases, looking to take portions of the allocation to an active manager instead. "We are … having exactly these conversations: How much of this risk are people...

March 22, 2021
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22Mar

Colombia govt presents capital markets bill

The government of center-right Colombian President Iván Duque has presented a capital markets bill. Key aims of the draft legislation are modernizing the payments system and boosting financial inclusion, accelerating development of the local capital market, modernizing parts of the financial system and strengthening institutional frameworks. The bill comes after experts put the sector under the microscope and submitted their recommendations. The proposed reform impacts the insurance sector, via the modernization and overhaul of current rules, such as implementation of a risk-based...

March 22, 2021
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19Mar

UK. Pension longevity risk transfers reach record-breaking £55.8bn in 2020

Longevity risk transfers by UK pension schemes reached a record level of £55.8bn in 2020, rising above the £51.6bn completed the year before, analysis from LCP and Mercer has shown. Total buy-in and buyout volumes were £31.7bn, the second largest ever recorded in a single year but behind the £43.8bn bumper volumes racked up in 2019, with the record-breaking year instead being driven by longevity swaps reaching £24.1bn. Legal & General (L&G) had a 24 per cent market share, followed by...

March 19, 2021
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19Mar

US. $35 Trillion in Retirement Savings Tells a Tale of Two Economies

New data published by the Investment Company Institute (ICI) shows total U.S. retirement assets grew to $34.9 trillion as of December 31, which is up 7.5% from the end of the third quarter of the year and up 9.3% overall for last year. With such strong growth for the year, the ICI reports, retirement assets accounted for a third of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of December. The ICI update shows that assets in...

March 19, 2021
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18Mar

China to Raise Retirement Age to Offset Funding Shortfall  

China is the world’s most populated country but decades of a strictly enforced one-child policy, shortage of social security funds and a comparatively young retirement age is forcing Beijing to act in the face of a shrinking work force. Read also China. Power or Profits: Beijing’s Pension Dilemma Analysts estimate the country’s labor force will lose 35 million workers over the next five years and that during that same period, the number of citizens eligible for retirement will surge to more...

March 18, 2021
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18Mar

US Corporate Pension Funded Ratio Climbs to 92.9% in February

Funding for the 100 largest US corporate pension plans, as tracked by the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index, improved by $67 billion in February as the plans’ aggregate funded ratio rose to 92.9% from 89.7%, thanks to a 26 basis point increase in the monthly discount rate. It was the fifth straight month funded ratios have improved. Read also U.S. Participants don’t know what is happening to their fees A paltry investment gain of 0.13% during the month led to a...

March 18, 2021
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18Mar

Kenya: Former Telkom Workers Wallow in Poverty As Pension Scheme Holds On to Payout

On a bright Wednesday morning, Agnes Ouma sits on a blue plastic chair outside her neighbour's house, in Jamhuri estate on Ngong road. She is going through her phone book. Midway, she pauses and laments: "Nobody receives my calls these days." She thinks that most of her contacts have blacklisted her. Because whenever she calls, it is to ask for financial help. Since retrenchment, she says, she has been reduced to a borrower -- borrowing without any clear plan to repay. "No...

March 18, 2021
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18Mar

U.K. Pensions Regulator seeks to streamline codes of practice

The U.K. Pensions Regulator is consulting the retirement industry on its proposal to create a new online-based code of practice, the regulator said Wednesday. The consolidated code, which would encompass updated rules on plan governance and management, would replace 10 other existing codes. The regulator intends to clarify expectations on retirement plan governing bodies to help them better assess how well their policies address financial and operational risks. "The new code of practice represents TPR's ambition to create a single point of...

March 18, 2021
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18Mar

Too much, or not enough: the risks of drawdown

For many people approaching retirement, there is a sense of dread when it comes to navigating the rules about accessing their pensions. Pension drawdown has grown in popularity since 2015. It enables savers to take a tax-free lump sum from their defined contribution pension, but keep the remainder of the money invested to provide an income during retirement. Currently, three times the number of savers are opting for drawdown plans than those who are buying annuities, according to the Financial Conduct...

March 18, 2021
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17Mar

Uber Grants Vacation Pay, Pensions to U.K. Drivers in Change of Job Status

Uber Technologies Inc. said it will grant its U.K. drivers an employment status entitling them to vacation pay and pension contributions, a costly shift in one of its largest overseas markets amid a global debate over the treatment of gig-economy workers. Read also UK. Pension longevity risk transfers reach record-breaking £55.8bn in 2020 The changes may presage legal wrangling, however, because the ride-hailing company says it will guarantee its drivers the U.K.’s minimum wage only after they have accepted a trip—not...

March 17, 2021
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