August 2019

Japan. World’s largest pension fund promotes ESG and performance-based fees

The largest pension fund in the world has been clarifying its sustainability goals in the last few years and fund managers ought to take note, as it is an initiator and it is working with other large asset owners. Read also Japan’s Pension Fund Warns of Global Investing Losses On Tuesday, CalPERS's investment committee will hear a keynote presentation from Hiro Mizuno, executive managing director and chief investment officer of the Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF). He will present...

Ghana. Government pays GHC3.1bn to pension scheme

Government has released some 3.1billion cedis which were kept into the Pensions Trust Fund Account into the custodian accounts of the various public and private Sector pension schemes. Minister for Employment and Labour Relations Ignatius Baffour-Awuah who disclosed this at the Meet the Press series in Accra said the schemes include the Ghana Education Service Occupational Pension Scheme, Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme, Judicial Service Occupational Pension Scheme, Hedge Master Trust Occupational Pension Scheme and Public Sector Workers Employees’ Pension...

U.S. Elderly Bankruptcy Is On The Rise — Here’s Why

This week, the U.K.’s Financial Times covered an important and overlooked aspect of how the U.S. treats its elders: bankruptcy. Stories of seniors filing for bankruptcy are heartbreaking and uncomfortable, so I am not surprised that it took a correspondent paid by a foreign newspaper (Patti Waldmeir) to tell this American story from the lobbies of our bankruptcy courts. Like every good story, there are complicated victims and more than one perpetrator. Everyone has a role in the “crime.” Victims In Elder Bankruptcies Bankruptcy in...

Workplace Pensions In Germany: What You Need To Know

In Germany, paying contributions to the statutory (state) social security pension is compulsory for most employees and their employers. In addition many companies, in particular large and international enterprises, choose to offer employer-financed (second tier) workplace pension schemes to help attract and retain staff. Workplace pension arrangements may be set up using one of five different pension vehicles. Details of each type of vehicle are set out in this note. Since 2002, employers must enable their staff to make employee contributions to...

Turkish army pension fund set to buy British Steel

Ataer Holding would then be given several weeks to try to buy British Steel - the owner of the Scunthorpe works - out of insolvency. British Steel was put into compulsory liquidation in May, when the Official Receiver was appointed. Ataer owns nearly 50% of Erdemir, Turkey's biggest steel producer. It is the investment vehicle of the Turkish Armed Forces Assistance Fund (known as Oyak), the pension fund for the country's armed forces. Some 5,000 jobs were put at...

US. MIT Accused Of Costing Workers Millions In Cozy Deal With Financial Giant Fidelity

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the nation's most prestigious universities, stands accused of hurting workers in the company's retirement plan by engaging in an improper relationship with the financial firm Fidelity. A lawsuit headed to trial in September alleges that MIT ignored the advice of its own consultants and allowed Fidelity to pack the university's retirement plan with high-fee investment funds that ended up costing employees tens of millions of dollars. In return, the lawsuit said, MIT...

Canada. CPPIB earned 1.1 per cent in most recent quarter, CPP Fund now tops $400 billion

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board says it earned a return of 1.1 per cent, net of its costs in its most recent quarter. Chief executive Mark Machin says the investments achieved solid net income in local-dollar terms, but the Canadian dollar strengthened in June and dampened the returns. The result for the quarter ended June 30 came as its net assets grew to $400.6 billion, up from $392.0 billion at the end of the previous quarter. The increase...

Could Buying Bitcoin Solve the Global Pension Crisis?

The Rundown Pension Funds Investing in BTC Could Achieve Annual Returns of over 19% Millennials Are Buying Bitcoin To Save for Retirement Amid fears of a world recession, the pension time bomb is ticking louder. Financial experts warn that the coming pension crisis is of such a magnitude that it will eventually affect everyone. Now, some are looking into Bitcoin as a potential savior of pension plans. PENSION FUNDS INVESTING IN BTC COULD ACHIEVE ANNUAL RETURNS OF OVER 19%...

European Commission Requests the EIOPA Advise on PEPP Regulation Delegated Acts

On August 5, the Council of the EU published a cover note, which attaches a call for advice from the European Commission to the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) (dated July 31) on possible delegated acts concerning the Regulation on a Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP Regulation) ((EU) 2019/1238). The Commission requests advice relating to: The criteria and factors to determine when there is a significant PEPP saver protection concern under Article 64(9). The specification of additional...

UK Pension and Welfare Agency Is Looking Into Blockchain For Future Implementation

On August 9th in a blog post, the deputy director of digital payments and banking systems at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) made a statement that the DWP was looking for ways to revamp its payment systems in order to make them better adapted to the current economic situation in the country. Richard LAYCOCK said that implementing the blockchain would bring great benefit to the speed, efficiency, and cost of conducting millions of transactions every single day...