October 2017

17Oct

Australia’s ANZ Sells Pension Business to IOOF for $766 Million

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd has sold its pension unit to IOOF Holdings for A$975 million ($766 million), joining the rush of Australian banks quitting non-core and scandal-hit divisions to boost capital. The deal fell short of a total exit of ANZ's insurance and wealth management operations which the bank had flagged a year earlier, and which had been expected to fetch about A$4 billion. But Atlas Funds Management chief investment officer David Hugh, who owns ANZ shares, said...

October 17, 2017
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17Oct

UK. Pearson agrees deal to insure third of pension scheme risk

Publisher Pearson said on Tuesday it had agreed a deal to insure a third of its pension scheme liabilities totalling 1.2 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) with Legal & General and Aviva. The deal “substantially reduces” the risk that Pearson would be unable to fund future retiree benefits and was agreed at no further cost to the company, it said in a nine-month trading update. Under the so-called ‘buy-in bulk annuity’, the insurers take on some of the risk of the pension...

October 17, 2017
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17Oct

Canada. It’s time to treat aging as an asset, not a burden

By now, you may be aware that Canada’s seniors recently crossed a significant threshold. Statistics Canada announced for the first time ever that people over 65 now officially outnumber children under 15. The story is similar all over the world. Historians will say one day that this global shift in demographics was one of the most important events of the 21st century. Indeed, it’s certainly a triumph of public health and modern medicine. For many, though, this shift is seen...

October 17, 2017
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17Oct

Australia. Ageing regions increasingly reliant on the pension.

Age discrimination in the workforce needs to end to combat a growing aged pension crisis in the country's oldest regions, according to the Regional Australia Institute. A RAI report has found there is lower growth, lower incomes and a higher welfare services bill in aging regions which are increasingly reliant on the pension. The report said some regions, including Victor Harbor, Port-Macquarie-Hastings and East Gippsland, already had more than 20 per cent of their populations reliant on the age pension. The 2016 census showed while...

October 17, 2017
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17Oct

Dutch pension fund invests in local wireless infrastructure provider

The Rabo Bouwfonds Communication Infrastructure Fund (CIF) has sold its stake in the Netherlands-based Open Tower Company to a local pension fund. ABP, which has €394 billion of assets under management, has acquired a 75 percent in OTC for an undisclosed sum. OTC co-founder NOVEC, another infrastructure provider, retains a 25 percent share in the company, which was founded in 2009 and has built up a portfolio of 800 towers. CIF Managing Partner Randolf Nijsse said: “Starting as a new...

October 17, 2017
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16Oct

UK. One in five FTSE 100 pension funds at risk of failure in a recession

One in five FTSE 100 ­defined benefit pension schemes would be at risk of failure if Britain entered ­another economic downturn, research reveals. In a “stressed” scenario – such as a recession – the combined pension deficits of the blue-chip index would jump by £100bn, equivalent to four years of pre-tax profits, according to a study by consultants Cardano and Lincoln Pensions. In such a scenario a fifth of FTSE 100 firms would face pension risks worth 30pc or more...

October 16, 2017
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16Oct

Pensions extended to workers in Thailand

Cambodian migrants in Thailand are to earn pension benefits as they work abroad, Labour Minister Ith Samheng has announced. Meeting workers in Thailand yesterday, Mr Samheng said the government was discussing ways to make sure that migrants get equal access to pensions when they returned home. He said that all private sector employees would be eligible to the same pension benefits as civil servants from 2019. The Ministry of Labour is now in talks with the Thai government over how to...

October 16, 2017
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16Oct

Canadian Pension Plan to invest up to US$500 million on data centres

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is investing up to US$350 million in data centres with Singapore’s Alpha Data Centre Fund (ADCF), with the option to invest another $150 million. CPPIB, the investment manager of Canada’s biggest pension plan, is teaming up with Singapore-based Alpha Investment Partners and data centre operator Keppel Data Centre Holdings (Keppel Data Centre) – both part of the city state’s Keppel Group – in the deal. The ADCF was launched in July 2016 by Alpha...

October 16, 2017
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16Oct

Australia. Robo-advisers to expand into retirement advice

ASAP chief executive Jim Hennington said he expects the scope of advice that’s provided by automated advice providers to SMSFs will further expand over the next year. “At the moment, [it’s] very much focused on the transactions that accountants tend to get deeply involved with such as establishing an SMSF, purchasing property and LRBAs, and setting up SMSF pensions,” said Mr Hennington. He expects that automated advice will soon expand beyond this, however, into services such as retirement advice. “Over time automated...

October 16, 2017
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16Oct

UK. Monarch collapse leaves yet another pension fund up in the air

Pensions are the tail wagging the economic dog – sometimes in the strangest ways. Take the high-profile collapse at Monarch Airlines. It’s a sorry story of corporate raiders facing accusations of asset-stripping one of the country’s largest holiday airline businesses and leaving taxpayers to pick up the tab. The once strong, if slightly dated, brand was taken over by private equity financiers to try to make it into another Ryanair. When that failed, it appears the owners could still walk away...

October 16, 2017
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