July 2019

29Jul

Jamaica. Imminent pension plan reforms will allow them to invest in a wider range of assets

Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke moved amendments to the Pensions (Superannuation Funds & Retirement Schemes) (Investment) (Amendment) Regulations 2019, which were passed by the House of Representatives. These amendments will broaden the range of permissible assets in which pension plans can invest, and strengthen the legislative framework with respect to safeguarding the assets of pension plans. Giving his rationale for the change, Clarke observed “Mr Speaker, as we move into a new regime that's...

July 29, 2019
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29Jul

UK. Growing number of GPs cut shifts to avoid huge pension tax

A growing number of family doctors are reducing the hours they work to avoid a huge and unexpected pension tax bill. The decision increasingly means already-overstretched surgeries have fewer appointments to offer patients. One GP who last year dropped two of her eight sessions a week now intends to drop two more, halving her original workload. “Losing two sessions a week will have a significant impact on waiting times for patients booking appointments and also mean delays in dealing...

July 29, 2019
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29Jul

This Is Why Millennials Are Poised To Repeat Baby Boomer Retirement Mistakes

Does this sound familiar? You’re on either side of your tenth-year reunion, yet you’re still hounded by onerous college debt. Your kids are tugging at whatever passes for apron strings these days. You want to buy a house but the money’s too tight. You see all your friends jetting off to “bucket-list” vacations while you can’t risk leaving work for even an extended weekend. And saving for retirement? You know that’s the smart thing to do but how can...

July 29, 2019
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26Jul

World Bank boosts support for Uzbekistan

The World Bank is scaling up its support for Uzbekistan and has praised reforms aimed at fostering a market economy. The bank has announced loan and grant agreements totalling $656m for projects in the country, which is now among its largest recipients in the Europe and Central Asia region. The Washington-based organisation has said the energy sector is key to growth but suffers weak financial and operational performance, infrastructure bottlenecks, and an incomplete policy and regulatory framework. “The government and the people of Uzbekistan...

July 26, 2019
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26Jul

Former banker appointed head of South Africa’s scandal-hit state pension fund

Former Nedbank chairman Reuel Khoza has been appointed to head South Africa’s 2 trillion rand ($141 billion) Public Investment Corporation (PIC) in an effort to restore the scandal-plagued pension fund’s reputation. Khoza replaces South Africa’s former Deputy Finance Minister Mondli Gungubele as chairman of the PIC board, marking the first time the head of the fund responsible for billions of rand in government employee pensions has been chosen from outside the ranks of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). The role...

July 26, 2019
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26Jul

The Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act of 2019: No Solution to America’s Pension Crisis

The House of Representatives just passed a bill that would bail out private union pension plans by giving them taxpayer dollars to invest in the stock market, as well as loans to cover their broken pension promises, which amount to $638 billion and counting. The bailout-without-reform plan would do nothing to fix the underlying problems and would instead incentivize union pension plans to become more underfunded so they could receive taxpayer funds. Risking taxpayer money in the stock market...

July 26, 2019
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26Jul

Canada. Positive returns for pension funds in second quarter of 2019

Morneau Shepell (MSI.TO) has released the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers' Pooled Funds for the second quarter of 2019. According to the report, in the second quarter of 2019, diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of 2.2 per cent before management fees. Since the beginning of the year, the return has been 11.1 per cent. "In general, markets posted positive returns in the second quarter, continuing the rebound started early in the year. The FTSE Canada...

July 26, 2019
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26Jul

Industry sets out demands for newly appointed UK chancellor

Boris Johnson started his first day as UK prime minister by sacking 11 members of his predecessor Theresa May’s cabinet in a mass Brexiteer reshuffle. After being elected leader of the Conservative party on Tuesday, Johnson has placed his faith into former home secretary Sajid Javid to become the chancellor of the exchequer. Javid is reportedly set to make drastic changes to prepare for a potential no-deal Brexit, something Johnson is adamant he will carry out if the withdrawal agreement with the...

July 26, 2019
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26Jul

Zimbabwe. Zimdollar return hits pensions

Zimbabwe Association of Pension Funds (ZAPF) is saying the introduction of Statutory Instrument (SI) 142 has reduced confidence in policyholders and shareholders in the pensions industry that has been on recovery path during the multi-currency regime. The multi-currency regime was introduced in 2009 after a decade-long hyperinflation which eroded prescribed assets and cash at banks for pension fund members. However, it was scrapped last month by authorities. In an e-mailed response by ZAPF director-general Sandra Musevenzo, policyholders and shareholders were starting to...

July 26, 2019
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25Jul

US. House approves loan program for troubled pension plans

The House voted 264-169 on Wednesday to pass legislation that would create a new Treasury Department agency to provide taxpayer-backed loans to endangered multiemployer pension plans and some other types of endangered plans. The loans would be distributed by a Pension Rehabilitation Administration and would go to programs listed in “critical and declining” status by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the federal agency that insures the plans. The bill, which is dubbed the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act, or...

July 25, 2019
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