June 2018

28Jun

Ghana. Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme website launched

The website leads members who are all health sector workers to receive and give information to their trustees and the service provider on the mandatory privately managed Tier-two pension scheme. It also provides a link to the HSOPS main database where each member could track their contributions, access and print membership certificates, make benefit projections and a host of other benefits. Mr Kingsley Aboagye Gyedu, the Deputy Minister of Health, at the launch in Accra on Tuesday, congratulated the Board of...

June 28, 2018
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28Jun

Australia. How superannuation discriminates against middle income earners

While all workers benefit from the 9% superannuation guarantee, those on middle incomes benefit significantly less than lower and upper incomes, according to my research. I ran simulations on the financial assets accumulated over a working life, comparing this to what would have been earned on the same amount saved but invested outside the superannuation system and earning the same rate of return. Read More: Smart Company

June 28, 2018
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28Jun

Market volatility putting thousands of UK pension pots at risk

Thousands of people in drawdown are not adjusting their pension income levels to account for market volatility, leading to fears they could drain their retirement pots too quickly, research from Zurich has found. The study found that 41% in drawdown are withdrawing the same amount from their pension regardless of how the stock market performs. In a statement released on 27 June, a Zurich spokesperson said: “With more than 431,000 retirees using income drawdown to fund their retirement, this means as...

June 28, 2018
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27Jun

Mexico. Afore Sura hands equity chief mandates unit in overhaul

Afore Sura has reorganized its mandates division by handing it over to the Mexican pension fund’s international equity chief. The mandates division was previously led by Sabina Chávez Atkinson, who heads up the group’s investment strategy for credit and alternatives. A spokeswoman confirmed to Citywire Americas that head of international equities Sergio Molina and his team took over responsibility for the mandates at the end of May. Read More: City Wire Americas

June 27, 2018
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27Jun

UK government wrong to deny pension to transgender woman, rules European court

The UK government discriminated against a transgender woman by denying her a state pension upon retirement age, the European Court of Justice has ruled. Britain’s Supreme Court had asked European judges to rule on the case, which involved an unnamed individual who was born a man in 1948. The claimant, referred to only as MB, married a woman in 1974 and later had two children. She began to live as a woman in 1991 and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1995. Read...

June 27, 2018
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27Jun

Kenya. Private Equity funds eye pension billions

Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds have set their sights on attracting up to Sh50 billion investments from pension schemes in five years, signalling an intensifying scramble for workers’ savings. Investment guidelines under the Retirement Benefits Act 2016 allow pension fund managers and trustees to sink up 10 per cent of assets under their watch in PE and VC funds. That followed four years of agitation by the PE funds for a change of rules to facilitate increased investments...

June 27, 2018
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26Jun

Spanish regulators, financial institutions collaborate on blockchain project

Blockchain seems to be gaining ground in Spain. Earlier today, the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), BME and a number of financial institutions including Banco Santander, BBVA, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, Commerzbank and Société Générale, announce they have been working together over the past year on a project called Fast Track Listing (FTL), which is based on blockchain technology. The purpose of the joint endeavor is to simplify processes and cut the amount of time needed to register issuances. It...

June 26, 2018
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26Jun

African pension funds look to Dubai to invest capital

In Africa, there has been the emergence of an ecosystem around pension funds. A recent institutional investor study estimated that the 10 largest funds in Africa held a combined $310 billion in assets. This has transpired for a number of reasons, not the least of it being a shift in many of these countries switching from defined benefits to defined contribution schemes. In Botswana, for example, where the shift took place in 2001, there are more than 100 pension funds...

June 26, 2018
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26Jun

US. MetLife Faces Court Challenges for Pension Risk Transfer and Beneficiary Practices

A would-be class representative whose benefit liability was transferred to MetLife in a pension risk transfer (PRT) deal has filed an expansive lawsuit, challenging the company’s practices across its PRT and group annuity contract services business. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the complaint names as defendants MetLife, Inc.; the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; and Brighthouse Financial, Inc. Summarizing the complaint, the lead plaintiff says he is suing these companies “for conversion and...

June 26, 2018
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