April 2019

26Apr

Morgan Stanley to pay $130 million to California pensions over bad investments

One of the world’s largest investment banks has agreed to put $130 million into the nation’s biggest public pension system to settle accusations it knowingly sold bad investments that caused the retirement fund for millions of workers to lose money. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra announced the settlement with Morgan Stanley on Thursday. The bank is to pay $150 million. Of that, $122 million will go to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, known as CalPERS, and $8 million...

April 26, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
26Apr

South Africa. Government pension fund should invest more in unlisted assets, says head

Government Employee Pension Fund Principal Executive Officer Abel Sithole told reporters on Thursday that the fund, its members and the economy could enjoy untold benefits if the fund broadened its investment portfolio’s exposure to unlisted investments. The GEPF is Africa’s largest pension fund, with over 1.2m active members and more than 400 000 pensioners and beneficiaries. The GEPF's investment portfolio currently stands at R1.8trn. The fallout from PIC investments gone wrong, including AYO Technologies and Steinhoff International Holdings, has...

April 26, 2019
News, Slider
Read more...
25Apr

Prudential Financial closes $2.6 billion in longevity reinsurance agreements

Prudential Retirement®, a unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), has concluded about $2.6 billion in previously undisclosed longevity reinsurance contracts, an important signal of an unprecedented start to the 2019 U.K. pension risk transfer market. As part of these transactions, Prudential Retirement is assuming the longevity risks of approximately 16,000 pensioners. This early 2019 de-risking wave has been driven in part by many pensions seeking to close agreements prior to the original March 29 Brexit deadline. But with...

April 25, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
25Apr

Are Americans overly confident about retirement?

Americans are more optimistic than they’ve been in years about life in retirement. Yet one question remains: Will they have enough money? According to a new study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, confidence among U.S. workers has rebounded to pre-recession levels, with 67% saying they are very or somewhat confident they’ll be able to live comfortably throughout retirement. And, among those already out of the workforce, 82% are confident they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement,...

April 25, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
25Apr

UK. British pension fund USSL to buy telecom co KCOM for 504 mln pounds

British pension fund Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd (USSL) said its Humber Bidco unit would buy telecommunication company KCOM for 504 million pounds ($651.42 million), sending KCOM shares soaring more than 30 percent. Humber Bidco would pay 97 pence per KCOM share in cash, a premium of almost 34 percent. KCOM's directors intend to urge shareholders to vote in favour of the deal which they called "fair and reasonable", USSL said. KCOM shares surged nearly 34 percent - its biggest...

April 25, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
24Apr

China says will guarantee pensions amid warnings of funds drying up

China will “fully guarantee” future pension payments, a government official told reporters, amid warnings from government researchers that funds could run out by 2035. China’s social security system is under increasing strain as a result of a rapidly ageing population and a shrinking workforce. The China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a government think tank, said in a report this month that the country’s pension funds could become insolvent by 2035, with a rapidly dwindling workforce unable to support...

April 24, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
24Apr

US Corporate Pension Funding Ratio Rises to 87.1% in 2018

The funded ratio of the 100 largest US corporate pension plans rose to 87.1% in 2018 from 85.8% at the end of 2017, despite investment losses of 2.8%—the worst asset performance since 2008, according to consulting firm Milliman. “This was the first time in our study’s history that we had a negative asset return and yet corporate pension funding improved,” Zorast Wadia, co-author of Milliman’s Pension Funding Study (PFS), said in a release. The investment losses reduced plan assets...

April 24, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
24Apr

Brazil. Government Declares Studies that Support Social Security Reform Confidential

The Minister of the Economy decreed that studies and technical data supporting a constitutional change to Social Security remain confidential as the matter progresses through the government. Thus, ordinary citizens who will be affected directly by changes in pensions and retirement funds, will not have access to arguments, statistics, and economic and social data that support the significant change. The decision to deny the publication of documents is partly in response to a Law of Access to Information...

April 24, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
23Apr

Nigeria. ‘PenCom’ll not pay to fraudsters’

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) said it has put stringent measures in place to prevent payment of pension to fraudsters. Its Acting Director-General, Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar who gave the assurance in an interview with The Nation said the administration and payments of retirement benefits under the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004, as repealed by PRA 2014, 2014 is fool proof. She said the Commission also checks to confirm that information submitted to it are correct before granting approval for...

April 23, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
23Apr

Dutch Pension Funds Rebound from December’s Santa Claus Blues

After a rough 2018, Dutch pension funds are finding redemption in the markets. Civil service plan ABP ($484 billion) and health care retirement fund PFZW ($243.6 billion) felt the sting of a cold, winter gust that knocked assets around. The two plans suffered losses (-2.3% and -0.4%, respectively) in 2018, sinking their funding ratios a bit. Amid this year’s cold, wintry gusts, first quarter assets showed signs of recovery. ABP returned 8.2% and PFZW gained 8.5% in the period...

April 23, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...