February 2017

24Feb

UK, Canada sign fintech startup deal

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK has formed an agreement with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). The deal is designed to simplify the process for fintech startups from one market to access that of the other. As part of this bond, the FCA and OSC will collaborate by sharing information on regulatory issues, as well as information on emerging trends in the market. The FCA set up an innovation hub in 2014 with the intention of supporting new firms in...

February 24, 2017
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23Feb

Measures needed so legacy pensions profit by bulk transfers

The DWP paper focusses on employers consolidating more than one occupational pension scheme or transferring from trust to master trust. It also considers relaxing the restrictions on bulk transfers of stakeholder pension scheme members. Aegon is calling on the DWP to broaden the scope of its review to pave the way for many more members to benefit from bulk transfers without the need for individual consent. Steven Cameron, Pensions Director at Aegon said: “We’re pleased that DWP is exploring how...

February 23, 2017
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23Feb

These legislators collect paychecks from Washington—and pensions from Illinois

Six-term Wheaton Republican Peter Roskam is a powerful figure in the U.S. House, where he chairs a key panel on tax policy and wants to delay Medicare and Social Security benefits for millions of Americans by raising the eligibility age. But Roskam—who has criticized his home state as a “fiscal basket case” and marshalled opposition to a federal rescue for Illinois's troubled pension funds—began collecting his $37,452 annual pension from the state for his years as an Illinois lawmaker at...

February 23, 2017
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23Feb

PFRDA to soon announce names of nine pension fund managers

Pension fund regulator PFRDA will announce in the next 10 days the names of nine pension fund managers (PFMs) shortlisted by it under the new variable commission structure, a top official said today. Pension fund regulator PFRDA will announce in the next 10 days the names of nine pension fund managers (PFMs) shortlisted by it under the new variable commission structure, a top official said on Wednesday. Moreover, the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) is hopeful that Atal Pension...

February 23, 2017
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23Feb

Moving the retirement outcome needle: 3 studies shed light

TIAA research highlights the increasingly important role of employer-sponsored retirement plans, but also a continuing disconnect between reality and workers’ expectations about retirement. Consider these statistics: Some 85 percent of plan participants who report an easy transition into retirement say they shared their retirement vision with their partner... Read More: HERE

February 23, 2017
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23Feb

Chinese military veterans stage protests in central Beijing over pensions

Chinese military veterans have demonstrated in central Beijing for two days, demanding unpaid retirement benefits in a new wave of protests highlighting the difficulty in managing demobilized troops. Hundreds of protesters, dressed in green and blue camouflage fatigues, gathered on Wednesday morning outside the Communist Party's anti-corruption agency, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, standing in rows and chanting slogans. Reuters was sent footage of the protest by participants. A smaller gathering of protesters congregated outside the Ministry of Civil Affairs on...

February 23, 2017
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22Feb

Moody’s Warns of Lower State Pension Investment Expectations

Moody’s on February 17 published: “State and Local Government — US: Softening Investment Expectations Signal Accelerating Budget Pressure from Pensions.” Moody’s Senior Analyst Thomas Aaron commented that with both the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) moving to cut investment return assumptions to 7 percent by 2018, large United States public pension systems will be pressured to also drop their return assumptions in response to lower investment outlooks. Aaron highlighted, “In a market...

February 22, 2017
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22Feb

Ruth Brunn finally said yes to marijuana. She is 98. She pops a green pill filled with cannabis oil into her mouth with a sip of vitamin water. Then Ms. Brunn, who has neuropathy, settles back in her wheelchair and waits for the jabbing pain in her shoulders, arms and hands to ebb. “I don’t feel high or stoned,” she said. “All I know is I feel better when I take this.” Ms. Brunn will soon have company. The nursing home in...

February 22, 2017
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22Feb

NPC targets informal sector in new pension regime

Energised by the successes recorded by the new pension reform, which led to monumental increment of pension holdings to the tune of N6 trillion, the National Pension Commission (NPC) is set to target the informal sector in the first quarter of 2017. The Director General of the Commission, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, disclosed this last Friday at an executive breakfast meeting held by Society for Corporate Governance Nigeria, with the theme: “Corporate Governance: a Pension Industry perspective”. She said the decision was...

February 22, 2017
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21Feb

Companies could offer less generous pensions under government proposals

The government is proposing to allow businesses to remove the link between retirees’ pensions and the retail price index (RPI), in a move that could alleviate the pressure on the UK’s drastically underfunded defined benefit (DB) pensions regime. The plans – contained in a new green paper published by the Department for Work and Pensions – are likely to prove controversial, with one estimate claiming they could cost the average employee £20,000 over the course of their retirement. The move could...

February 21, 2017
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