December 2020

17Dec

Money Managers Pledge to Hit Net Zero. Now the Hard Part

In the past week, Macquarie Asset Management, the New York State Common Retirement Fund and a group of 30 fund management companies have come out with statements saying they’re serious about getting the world to net-zero emissions. The announcements are welcome news, but now comes the hard part: How will all these investment firms and pension plans put their words into action, and how long will it take? “It’s fair to be skeptical,” said Kyle Harrison, a New...

December 17, 2020
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17Dec

WhatsApp to roll out health insurance and micro-pension products in India

The Facebook-owned company is currently allowed to extend its payment service to a maximum of 20 million users for peer-to-peer transactions. Read also Chile’s Great Pension Raid A month and a half after receiving regulatory approval from the National Payment Council of India (NPCI) to roll out payments on its messaging platform, WhatsApp has unveiled plans to offer financial services like health insurance and micro-pension products in India. Read also Malta. Three in ten pensioners at risk of poverty The American...

December 17, 2020
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17Dec

Bahrain chosen to launch global OECD Pensions Report for MENA region

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will be launching its seminal OECD Pensions Outlook Report 2020 in the MENA region for the first time, from the Kingdom of Bahrain. Read also South Africa. 1 600 municipal employees’ pensions have lapsed due to ‘non-payment of pension fund contributions’ The global organization which celebrates its 60th anniversary this week is considered to be the world’s largest think-tank and research centre on pensions. Last week, the OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurría, virtually launched...

December 17, 2020
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17Dec

UK. Canadian pension fund takes control of Trafford Centre

A pension fund has taken control of the Trafford Centre after administrators received "no viable bids" for it. The shopping centre, which attracts about 30 million visitors a year, went up for sale in August after owner Intu Properties (IP) entered administration. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), a key lender to IP, has taken ownership as the principal creditor. CPPIB's Geoff Souter said despite "challenging" retail conditons, the centre still had "strong prospects". The Canadian fund had provided...

December 17, 2020
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16Dec

US. Labor Department Finishes Fiduciary Rule for Retirement Plans

The Labor Department completed on Tuesday the Trump administration’s fiduciary rule governing advice affecting the trillions of dollars in retirement accounts. Read also US. Workers Tap Retirement Savings as a Last Resort But because the regulation won’t go into effect until after President-elect Joe Biden takes office, it is likely to be revised by the new administration. Read also Divest or direct? Pension funds weigh their options in the climate crisis “I don’t expect it to survive in its current form,”...

December 16, 2020
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16Dec

Canada’s Largest Pension Says Inflation Could Rise in Rebound

By Paula Sambo Canada’s largest pension fund says policy measures across the globe to address the Covid-19 pandemic could fuel inflation after years of under-inflation while also spurring a rebound in employment and business investment. “We’re keeping an eye on this because central banks have adjusted frameworks,” Mark Machin, chief executive officer of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said in an interview Tuesday. “There is also the risk of a wall of money in savings accounts -- $13 trillion...

December 16, 2020
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16Dec

UK. BBC presses play on $4 billion longevity swap

BBC Pension Scheme, London, completed a £3 billion ($4 billion) longevity swap with Zurich and Canada Life Reinsurance. Read also Ireland. A new model for pensions required The deal provides the pension fund and sponsoring employer British Broadcasting Corp. "with more certainty over future funding costs, and improves the security of all members' benefits," a notice posted on the pension fund's website said. Read also UK. Canadian pension fund takes control of Trafford Centre The fund had £17.3 billion in assets...

December 16, 2020
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16Dec

US. Stock Market Gains Help Pension Funding Levels: Pension and Group Annuity Update

Corporate bond interest rates fell a little in November, but the stock market did well, and that helped make the finances of big U.S. corporate pension plans look better, according to Milliman Inc. Zorast Wadia and Charles Clark, analysts at the Seattle-based actuarial consulting firm, found that the 100 large corporate pension plans they track reported a $272 billion combined deficit in November on $1.98 trillion in pension benefits obligations, compared with a $284 billion deficit on $1.915 trillion...

December 16, 2020
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16Dec

UN organizations launch new initiative to improve the lives of older people

The United Nations General Assembly today declared 2021-2030 the Decade of Healthy Ageing. "Today's announcement of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing sends a clear signal that it is only by working as one, within the United Nations system and with governments, civil society and the private sector, that we will be able to not only add years to life, but also life to years," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, in response to...

December 16, 2020
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15Dec

Divest or direct? Pension funds weigh their options in the climate crisis

n March 2017, Waltham Forest Council in London held £53.4m in investments in coal, oil and gas through its pension fund. Each of the 16,500 current and former workers who were members of the council’s pension scheme had more than £3,000 invested in fossil fuels. But this was about to change: the previous year, the council had become the first local authority in the UK to announce the divestment of fossil fuel holdings from its pension funds. Divestment can...

December 15, 2020
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