August 2020

11Aug

US. Public Funds Lead Institutional Investment Rebound

Institutional plan sponsors posted a median plan return of 10.6% during the second quarter as markets rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic-induced first quarter crash thanks to a strong performance by US equities, according to the Northern Trust Universe. The Northern Trust Universe tracks the performance of more than 320 large US institutional investment plans that have an aggregate asset value of more than $1 trillion. Public funds outperformed the other institutional segments tracked by Northern Trust, earning...

August 11, 2020
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10Aug

UK. Pension leaders file complaint over FCA ‘advice trap’

Pensions industry representatives have written a joint complaint to government ministers over new guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority, which they warn could see trustees deemed to be giving regulated financial advice. Read also UK. TPR responds to questions on their effectiveness on a pension scam case to WPC The Association of Consulting Actuaries, the Pensions Administration Standards Association, the Pensions Management Institute and the Society of Pension Professionals wrote to Guy Opperman, minister for pensions and financial inclusion, and...

August 10, 2020
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10Aug

Nigeria. Hope rises for annuity business

For more than 10 years, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) struggled to find a common ground for the operation of life annuity business. A conflicting regulation between the duo caused various challenges of compliance. It came to a head in 2017, when both government agencies headed by the former Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari and Director-General, PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu bickered, leading to the intervention of the former Minister of Finance, Mrs....

August 10, 2020
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10Aug

Multi-Manager For DC Plans: How To Hit The Sweet Spot, Even In Volatile Markets

How a multi-manager investment approach to defined-contribution plans can help support good decisions - and potentially great investment outcomes - amid difficult times. In markets like these, the value of a smooth ride of investment returns is easy to understand. The greatest responsibility of plan sponsors is to support the achievement of great investment outcomes. For the first time in years, the cycle of investor sentiment has turned decisively toward fear. The halting of economic activity precipitated by the...

August 10, 2020
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10Aug

US. California’s immense pension dilemma

California’s public employee pension dilemma boils down to this: The California Public Employees Retirement System has scarcely two-thirds of the money it needs to pay benefits that state and local governments have promised their workers. Moreover, CalPERS’ official estimate that it is 70.8% funded is based on an assumption of future investment earnings averaging 7% a year, which probably is at least one or two percentage points too high. In the 2019-20 fiscal year that ended June 30, CalPERS...

August 10, 2020
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07Aug

Eskom Pact Won’t Include Pledge to Use State Worker Pensions

A pact between South Africa’s government, labor unions and business to cut the debt of the stricken national power utility won’t include a pledge to use the pensions of state workers as had been initially proposed. An agreement due to be signed at the next meeting of the President’s Working Council has no firm undertaking to use the funds of the 2.1 trillion rand ($120 billion) Public Investment Corp., which manages state workers’ retirement money, or private pensions, said...

August 7, 2020
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07Aug

Sorry, But The World’s Best Pension Funds Are Canadian: McGill University & CEM Benchmarking

Canada’s pension funds are beating peers globally in investment performance and are stronger at hedging against liability risks, according to research from McGill University and CEM Benchmarking. Their success is partly explained by the fact they are more likely to manage their assets in-house, McGill researchers Sebastien Betermier and Quentin Spehner, along with CEM’s Alexander Beath and Chris Flynn, wrote in a July paper. The authors’ findings are based on a study of pensions, endowments, and sovereign wealth...

August 7, 2020
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07Aug

AIG expands pension risk transfer reinsurance activities in Q2

American International Group (AIG), the global insurance and reinsurance player, has expanded its activities in the pension risk transfer space during the second-quarter of this year. Reporting its results recently, AIG highlighted the Life and Retirement business segment as one experiencing strong premium growth. AIG explained that its Life and Retirement division recorded income of $881 million, down $168 million compared to the prior year quarter driven by private equity losses, continued spread compression on the investment portfolio and...

August 7, 2020
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06Aug

Netherlands, Denmark, Australia Rated World’s Top Pension Systems

The Netherlands, Denmark, and Australia were ranked as the top three pension systems by country, according to a report from Visual Capitalist. Meanwhile, Thailand, Argentina, and Turkey were ranked the worst. Read also Young Australians are raiding their super. What does this mean for their future? Rounding out the top 10 systems were Finland, Sweden, Norway, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada, and Chile. The United States ranked 17th. Read also India. Panel on labour suggests social protection for informal workers The report...

August 6, 2020
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06Aug

Kenya launches contributory pension scheme for government workers

Kenya launched a contributory pension scheme for hundreds of thousands of government workers on Wednesday, to prevent a crisis in the government’s finances from growing retirement obligations. The East African nation, which is facing reduced tax revenue due to the coronavirus crisis and ballooning debt repayments, has been spending 2.9% of its annual budget on pensions payments, the ministry of finance said, in a plan that does not involve contributions by individual workers. Read also Nigeria. Operators invest N55.25bn...

August 6, 2020
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