August 2017

10Aug

Jamaica. NCB Insurance wins third consecutive World Finance Pension Award

NCB Insurance Company Limited’s (NCBIC) pension fund management services is among the most financially stable and innovative in the world. So surmises World Finance in a July 6 press release announcing its 2017 Pension Fund Awardees. NCBIC received the 2017 title for the best pension fund manager in the Caribbean. This is the company’s third consecutive win and its fifth in seven years having copped the title in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016. “We are truly honoured to have been selected another...

August 10, 2017
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10Aug

UK. Tata Steel Set to Offload £15 Billion Pension Fund

Global steel producer Tata Steel is poised to offload its £15 billion ($19,5 billion) British Steel retirement fund to the U.K.'s Pension Protection Fund, with a formal announcement expected on Friday, according to a trade union spokesman. The news follows the company's confirmation in March that it would close its existing defined benefit scheme. Since April 1, British Steel has been offering employees a defined contribution scheme in its place. The British Steel Pension Fund has around 13,000 members. In its quarterly...

August 10, 2017
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09Aug

UK. Pensioners’ incomes rapidly catching up with workers’ after retirement earnings triple in 40 years

Retired households have tripled their incomes in the past 40 years, substantially narrowing the gap in earnings with working-age households. Back in 1977 the average pensioner household’s income was £10,500 (in 2016 prices, which account for inflation), just 52pc of the £20,200 earned by non-retired households. But by the financial year ending in 2016 those pensioners’ incomes had risen to £29,500, according to the Office for National Statistics. By contrast, non-retired households’ incomes had only doubled, rising to £41,900 on average. On average...

August 9, 2017
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09Aug

Nigeria Uncovers N5.7bn Pension Fraud in Eight Years

The Niger State government on Tuesday confirmed that after “a forensic audit of the contributory pension scheme during the period 2007-2015”, it has been established that the sum of N5.779 billion was not remitted to the Pension Board. The amount was less than the over N6.2 billion initially thought to have been siphoned. The state acting Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Ketso, disclosed this when he addressed the opening of a three-day sensitisation workshop on “Effective Pension Management and Administration in Niger State”...

August 9, 2017
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08Aug

India. Can Pensioners Be Divided Into Arbitrary Categories To Deny Rightful Pension, SC Set To Give A Ruling

The Supreme Court bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Uday Umesh Lalit, on August 1 concluded hearing the arguments and reserved its judgment in the case of United Bank of India v United Bank of India Retirees Welfare Association & Others. This is an appeal against the Calcutta High Court’s Division Bench judgment, delivered on September 26 last year. The case raises an interesting issue on whether an invidious classification can be made between employees, who retired before...

August 8, 2017
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08Aug

Surprise fall in UK inflation wipes £9bn off pension deficits

That is according to Mercer’s latest Pensions Risk Survey data, which shows that their liabilities decreased by £4bn to £865bn during that time, while asset values increased by £5bn to £743bn. This comes after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed an unexpected fall in inflation for June, which is thought to have reduced market implied inflation over July. “The trend of improvements continues during July, and was largely driven by a small reduction in market expectations for long-term inflation, which...

August 8, 2017
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08Aug

EU expresses worry over Poland reviving different retirement age for men and women

The EU's executive arm, the European Commission, is concerned that reintroducing a different retirement age for men and women in Poland could violate the bloc's equality rules, according to a letter from Brussels to Warsaw seen by Reuters. Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and President Andrzej Duda - who comes from the same political grouping - campaigned on promises to undo a 2012 reform that had been gradually raising and equalising the retirement age at 67. The government's change,...

August 8, 2017
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08Aug

India. Want to invest 50% of govt staff pension fund in market, says regulator

India’s pension regulator, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), has written to the government seeking approval to invest 50 per cent of the funds contributed by government employees under the National Pension Scheme (NPS), its flagship scheme in stocks. This signals a major shift considering that only 15 per cent of such funds are now routed to the stock markets. The NPS now has a corpus of Rs 198,000 crore with 87 per cent — Rs 172,260 crore...

August 8, 2017
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08Aug

Aging Asia: Turning Demographic Weakness to Strength

Asia’s changing demographics are expected to generate winners and losers across the region, with younger nations seen enjoying a demographic dividend while aging societies tackle the costs. Yet the future for East Asia’s ultra-aging societies might not be as bleak as feared, if policymakers can turn education, migration, and technology to their advantage. Recent research by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) highlights the expected winners and losers from aging in the world’s fastest growing region. Japan, which saw its population...

August 8, 2017
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07Aug

The existential challenge of AI

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are reshaping the institutional investment management industry from all angles. Over the last decade, high-speed automated trading has already revolutionised the day-to-day operation of financial markets and robo-advice has revamped the way wealth managers engage with clients. AI is upending the profit models of many companies in institutional investment portfolios. Within funds, many workers with repetitive and numbers-based jobs are set to be replaced. But the biggest fallout on superannuation and pension managers...

August 7, 2017
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