November 2017

21Nov

Bitcoin and Blockchain Aren’t Investible Yet, Canada Pension Says

Mark Machin, the head of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said he doesn’t think the bitcoin and blockchain space is “investible” yet, but the country’s largest pension fund is monitoring it with interest. "We’re watching it,” Machin said in a speech Monday. “I don’t think it’s institutionally investible yet. It’s really early days and there’s going to be lots of disruption." He said CPPIB has more than 100 people at its offices in Toronto watching the space carefully. Most investors are...

November 21, 2017
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21Nov

Iran’s Pension Funds: An Unfolding Crisis

Disputes over Iranian pension funds are coming to a boil, a former official with Social Security Organization in Legal and Parliamentary Affairs said. In a lecture titled “A Glance at the State of Pension Funds” at the Institute of Religion and Economic Studies in Tehran on Thursday, Mohsen Izadkhah also sought to scrutinize this unfolding crisis, the Persian daily Shargh reported. Excerpts of his speech follow: Iran’s social security system is built on the Iranian Constitution, the 20-Year Vision Plan (2005-25), “Law...

November 21, 2017
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21Nov

Italy. CGIL declares action over pensions

Susanna Camusso, the leader of Italy's biggest trade-union confederation, the leftwing CGIL, said Tuesday that the union will take action on December 2 due to the "great inadequacies" of the government's proposals on pensions and retirement. But the big three trade unions were split, with UIL and CISL expressing satisfaction after talks with Premier Paolo Gentiloni's government. CGIL wants an increase in the retirement age to 67, set to kick in in 2019, to be postponed, saying many people doing...

November 21, 2017
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21Nov

Canada Pension Plan is safe for generations, says CEO of investment board

In his travels to every province and one territory over the last 17 months, British-born Mark Machin was struck most by one thing about Canadians. “There’s still this myth that’s circulating that the Canada Pension Plan won’t be there when you retire,” said the CEO of the CPP Investment Board, the largest pension fund in the country that manages a $328-billion investment portfolio on behalf of 20 million Canadian workers and retirees. “You ask the average person — stop anyone on...

November 21, 2017
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20Nov

China taps state firms to buttress pensions as society ages

China on Saturday (Nov 18) announced a pilot programme to help pension schemes meet growing pressure from an ageing society by transferring shares of state-owned firms to social security funds. A document released by the country's State Council, or cabinet, said the programme would begin this year with shares of up to seven SOEs to be transferred. The plan is intended to help make up for shortfalls in the nation's pension schemes and will be expanded in 2018 to involve more...

November 20, 2017
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20Nov

How your mind hurts your saving habits: Nobel winner

Richard Thaler, professor of behavioural science and economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business last month won the 2017 Nobel prize in economic sciences. The branch of economics is, according to the business school, a “relatively new field that bridges the gap between economics and psychology”. “Thaler’s research investigates the implications of relaxing the standard economic assumption that everyone in the economy is rational and selfish, instead entertaining the possibility that some of the agents in the economy...

November 20, 2017
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20Nov

South Africa. SAA: no pension money for bail-out

The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) will go on a national strike if funds from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) are used to bail out the ailing SAA, parliament heard on Friday. The federation was presenting its submission to the Standing Committee on Appropriations, detailing its concerns about the airline and its 10 000 workers. Last month, the PIC said it was not ruling out the possibility of bailing out the embattled SAA, after it received cash injections from the...

November 20, 2017
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17Nov

Norway’s $1 trillion pension fund wants out of oil stocks

Norway used oil revenue to build its national pension fund into a $1 trillion behemoth. Now, the fund is planning to dump oil and gas stocks. The fund's managers recommended Thursday that oil and gas investments worth roughly $37 billion be sold in order to protect the country against a permanent drop in energy prices. "This advice is based exclusively on financial arguments and analyses of the government's total oil and gas exposure," said fund manager Egil Matsen. Matsen said...

November 17, 2017
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17Nov

Factbox: Where Chile’s top presidential candidates stand on reforms

Conservative frontrunner Sebastian Pinera and center-left Alejandro Guillier lead a crowded field of candidates in Chile’s presidential election on Sunday, widely seen as a referendum on the reforms of outgoing President Michelle Bachelet. The following are the main policies supported by Pinera and Guillier: SEBASTIAN PINERA - A billionaire businessman who served as president from 2010 to 2014, Pinera has promised to make Chile the first country in Latin America to achieve “developed nation” status in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and...

November 17, 2017
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17Nov

South Africa. Thousands of Transnet pensioners pin hopes on Constitutional Court

About 60‚000 Transnet pensioners have pinned their hopes on the Constitutional Court as they seek to proceed with a class action to seek billions from two pension funds. On Thursday‚ the court heard their appeal against a Pretoria High Court order from last year. Transnet pension fund recipients brought a lawsuit against the Transport Pension Fund and the Transnet Second Defined Benefit Fund and Transnet in the High Court last year. The pensioners wanted the High Court to declare that the...

November 17, 2017
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