News Archives - Page 890 of 922 - Pension Policy International

19JunJune 19, 2017

UK. FTSE 350 pensions in weakest position since 2009

British listed companies' ability to meet the obligations of their defined benefit, or final salary, pension schemes is at its weakest since 2009 as a result of falling gilt yields, consultancy firm PwC said on Monday. Low interest rates have increased the gap between pension schemes' assets, typically held in UK government bonds, and the fixed sums they need to pay to pensioners. Large pension deficits can reduce companies' ability to pay dividends as they divert cash into the pension schemes...

June 19, 2017

NewsUK

19JunJune 19, 2017

Europe-wide private pension plan is set to hit the market – but it must protect consumers, says Insurance Europe

The commission began consultations last year on its Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP), which is intended to act as an additional income alongside public or workplace pensions. But industry trade body Insurance Europe has noted today that, unless done properly, the move to encourage more people to take out private pensions could end badly. “Insurance Europe welcomes the project of a Pan-European Personal Pension Product as a way to increase both the share of the population with private pensions and the...

June 19, 2017

NewsEU

16JunJune 16, 2017

Millions risk pension poverty despite auto-enrolment jump

Overall, workplace pension participation remains highest in the professional occupations with 86 per cent of eligible employees participating in 2016, compared to the lowest in skilled trade occupations (such as plumber, carpenter, welder) where 63 per cent were participating in 2016. The annual total amount saved by eligible savers was £87.1bn in 2016, an increase of £3.8bn on the total amount saved in 2015. In April 2018, auto-enrolment contribution rates will increase from a minimum of 2 per cent overall (with...

June 16, 2017

News

16JunJune 16, 2017

Swedish Pension Fund Sells Out of Six Firms It Says Breach Paris Climate Deal

Sweden's largest national pension fund, AP7, has sold its investments in six companies that it says violate the Paris climate agreement, a decision environmentalists believe is the first of its kind. AP7, which provides pensions to 3.5 million Swedes, said on Thursday it had sold out of ExxonMobil, Gazprom, TransCanada Corp, Westar, Entergy and Southern Corp, and would no longer invest in companies that operate in breach of the Paris climate accord. "Since the last screening in December 2016, the Paris...

June 16, 2017

News

16JunJune 16, 2017

Zimbabwe: Mines Owe Pension Fund US $100 Million

Pension funds in the mining sector are owed almost US$100 million in unremitted contributions, mostly by large companies, despite an anticipated recovery in the capital-intensive industry. Mining overtook agriculture as the largest contributor to the economy more than four years ago, but the industry, like many other economic sectors, continues to default on pension contributions, blighting the retirement plans of many pensioners. Mining contributes 60% of the country's exports. According to the Mining Industry Pension Fund (MIPF) annual report for 2016, the...

June 16, 2017

NewsZimbabwe

16JunJune 16, 2017

UK. New pensions minister to take on expanded role

Hexham MP Guy Opperman will be the new pensions minister, the Government has announced. Opperman takes over the brief from Watford MP Richard Harrington, who has been moved to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as part of the Conservative Party’s reshuffle. However, Opperman’s brief has been expanded to also include financial inclusion. The Government’s website entry still says that exactly what this entails will be confirmed “in due course”. Widening the pensions minister remit stands in contrast to criticisms...

June 16, 2017

NewsUK

15JunJune 15, 2017

US. Three Ways GOP Is Waging War On Retirement

While most of the world was consumed with former FBI Director James Comey's riveting Senate testimony last week, the GOP majority in the House of Representatives quietly prosecuted its war on retirement. House Republicans under the leadership of Speaker Paul Ryan passed a "Financial CHOICE" Act that would roll back multiple Dodd-Frank protections that were put in place after the 2008 crash. These recent "reforms" mean your retirement savings will be more at risk. U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Paul...

June 15, 2017

NewsUS

15JunJune 15, 2017

Pension Fund Problems in Kazakhstan

In April 2013, Kazakhstan’s parliament passed a bill creating a single pension fund (ENPF), with the objective of nationalizing the pension funds that were previously held at banks and other financial institutions. At the time, the objective was to safeguard pension assets, given the troubled period that banks in Kazakhstan had just experienced after the global financial crisis of 2007. The merger of the private pension funds proved to be a challenging feat, as the most prominent banks either held...

June 15, 2017

NewsKazakhstan

15JunJune 15, 2017

Ukraine. Thousands in eastern Ukraine lose access to pensions

Mykola Ivanovych, who worked as a bus driver for 54 years, must present himself at the state-run bank in Stanytsia Luhanska, which checks his identity to allow him to receive his monthly payment of USD$53. Inside the bank, he waits patiently while his wife joins the queue to carry out the verification process. Mykola Ivanovych, who is his 70s, suffered two strokes after his son was killed by an artillery shell in 2014 – the first year of the Ukraine conflict,...

June 15, 2017

NewsUkraine

14JunJune 14, 2017

UK. Pensions Regulator warns over dividends

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) warned it would "intervene" in individual circumstances where schemes were being treated unfairly. In a review of Britain's defined benefit pension schemes published today the TPR said British corporate profits have grown over the last three years. But as dividend paid have increased, there has not been an associated increase in payments into so-called deficit repair contributions, in other words, the amount paid to plug pension holes. SCHRODERS TALK UK election result: what it means for markets, the economy...

June 14, 2017

NewsUK

June 2017