November 2020

19Nov

Pension transparency needs a benchmark

viaIn a first formal collaboration, Top1000funds.com and CEM Benchmarking have teamed up to develop the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark (GPTB). The GPTB establishes a new global benchmark that brings a focus to transparency in a bid to improve pension outcomes for members. Transparency, or lack of it around costs and other issues, has been a problem area for pension funds over many years, and in the industry there is room for improvement in this area. Transparency is a positive...

November 19, 2020
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19Nov

Australia. 12% superannuation hangs in the balance

The federal government will release the findings of its review into retirement incomes on Friday. Amongst other things, the review is believed to support a recent warning from Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe that the legislated increase in the superannuation guarantee (SG) will reduce wages and economic growth. The SG is slated to rise from 9.5% to 10% in mid-2021, but the government is set to delay a decision on proceeding with this increase until it hands down the...

November 19, 2020
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18Nov

French Senate passes social security draft budget, revives pensions polemic

Before the modifications in the Senate, the bill passed the National Assembly with 190 votes in favour, 106 votes against and 50 abstentions. As France deals with the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, senators voted to increase health provisions overall. Retirement age, again The Senate is dominated by a right-wing opposition and has re-introduced a proposal to extend the retirement age in order to balance the pension system. It recommends both pushing back the legal retirement age to 63...

November 18, 2020
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18Nov

Latin America’s leaders will have plenty of headaches

For latin america´s leaders 2021 will be about steering economic recovery while fending off a debt crisis and trying to persuade their citizens that democracy can still deliver results. What are the prospects around the region? With populations ravaged by covid-19 despite long lockdowns, many countries may have some degree of “herd immunity”. But the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic will linger: after economies contracted by 8% or so in 2020, Latin America will have some 40m “new poor”,...

November 18, 2020
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18Nov

South Africa. GEPF asset market value declines by 11.4% – annual report

Ryk Van Niekerk: The Government Employees Pension Fund, or GEPF, released its annual report yesterday, November 16, 2020. It was for their financial year to the end of March this year. Now the GEPF is a defined-benefit fund, which manages pensions and related benefits on behalf of government employees in South Africa. It was established in 1996, and is the largest pension fund in South Africa and one of the largest in the world. The fund’s asset value stood...

November 18, 2020
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18Nov

UK. PensionBee mulls float on stock exchange

Pension consolidator PensionBee is seeking to float on the London Stock Trade in a transfer which can see it valued at £300m or extra, based on experiences. In keeping with The Occasions, the digital consolidator is looking for bank advisers for the float and plans to make an appointment earlier than Christmas. Romi Savova, founder and chief govt of PensionBee, advised the paper that robust efficiency in current months had accelerated plans to show PensionBee right into a public...

November 18, 2020
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18Nov

Pensions Post-Covid

While the UK and much of Europe has re-entered lockdown, the prospect of a coronavirus vaccine and a new President in the White House have boosted investor confidence as well as the value of pension pots linked to the stock market. This year’s events have had a deep impact on household finances in the UK, but have they made permanent changes to retirement plans? The official data paints a mixed picture, and advisers say that while there has been...

November 18, 2020
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17Nov

Here Are the World’s Biggest Asset Owners

The top 100 asset owners controlled $20.1 trillion in global assets at the end of 2019 — a 6 percent jump from the year before, according to a new annual ranking. In its annual Top 100 Asset Owners study, published Monday, consultant Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Institute reported that by itself, Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund weighs in at nearly $1.6 trillion in assets. That fund, the government pension system of Norway, and China’s sovereign wealth fund...

November 17, 2020
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17Nov

Peru prepares for pension fund tender amid political turbulence

Peru’s financial services regulator SBS published rules governing a forthcoming tender for a contract to gain new workers entering the private pension fund, or AFP, system. Bids are due to be presented and opened on December 18, SBS said in a statement. The winning party will accept workers from June 1, 2021 to May 31, 2023. These will remain with the AFP for a minimum of two years. But contributors can, after 180 days, move to a new AFP...

November 17, 2020
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17Nov

UK. MPs jeopardising pension security without further bill amendments, Altmann says

Speaking ahead of the final Pension Schemes Bill session in the House of Commons next week, Altmann said changes "could make or break" private pensions. The government and regulators have "chosen to remove important amendments passed by cross-party peers" Altmann said, which were "considered crucial to helping defined benefit (DB) schemes to remain open". "The Lords debates highlighted concerns from many open schemes that the new funding code, recently consulted on by The Pensions Regulator, poses an existential threat...

November 17, 2020
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