June 2017

22Jun

Nigeria. NLC asks Cross River to account for N31b bailout fund

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked the Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade, to account for the N31.1 billion bailout fund the state received from the Federal Government. The Organised Labour in the state had on Monday resumed a total strike it suspended on May 30 demanding the payment of arrears of gratuity, release of promotion letters and many others, saying the Paris fund refund and the bailout funds were meant for payment of salaries, pensions and gratuities and...

June 22, 2017
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22Jun

Factbox: Ageing Europe could benefit from refugees and migrants – U.N.

Refugees and migrants could help Europe support its ageing population and ease the heavy burden on health and social care systems, the United Nations said on Wednesday. An ageing population is the result of increased life expectancy and lower fertility rates, and puts pressure on stretched healthcare systems, pensions and social care. One in four Europeans is aged 60 or older, with the number set to increase, at a time when mistrust of immigrants runs high in many European countries. The 2017...

June 22, 2017
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22Jun

6 Trends Seen In America’s Retirement Plans

Employer 401k matches and automatic features are a win for all involved. Anyone needing more evidence can find it in a new report that claims over 80 percent of retirement plan sponsors have opted to fund an employee match, up from 69 percent in 2015. These plans are seeing participation rates 19 percent higher than those that don’t fund a match. Additionally, plans that offer both automatic enrollment and automatic increase features have an 80 percent participation rate. It’s part of...

June 22, 2017
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22Jun

UK. Silence on pensions in the Queen’s Speech was a big mistake – Theresa May should have stuck to her instincts

Wednesday's Queen’s Speech was a pot-holed, broken reflection of the manifesto the Conservative Party stood on just two weeks ago. Thankfully a number of the manifesto’s egregious policies didn’t make the Queen’s final pages, but, more problematically, a number of its good ones also felt the executioner’s touch. None more so than the brave changes Theresa May had proposed on pensioner benefits and care. Proposals to means-test the universal winter fuel payment, scrap the triple lock on pensions, and the...

June 22, 2017
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21Jun

UK’s Ageing Workforce Will Decide Our Future After Brexit

Here are some numbers for you to conjure with. In the 10 years to 2022, some 12.5 million jobs will be opened up in the UK through people leaving the workforce, mostly through retirement or ill-health. Over the same period an estimated two million new jobs will be created, given a fair economic wind. Yet based on the number of young people reaching adulthood, just seven million will enter the workforce. Even allowing for the vagaries of economic forecasting,...

June 21, 2017
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21Jun

US. More than 1,200 positions targeted for early retirement, buyouts at EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to cut 8 percent of its workforce by early September through early retirement and buyouts. In memo of Acting EPA Deputy Administrator Michael Flynn, and obtained by Federal News Radio, he said the agency plans submitting its agency-wide VERA/VSIP proposal to the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget for approval later this month, with more information about which positions will be included in the program of July. Officials from the...

June 21, 2017
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21Jun

Europe’s Insurers, Pension Cos. Still Face Risk, EIOPA Says

The macroeconomic environment remains fragile for Europe’s insurers and occupational pensions companies despite signs of improvement in the last six months, the European Union’s top insurance regulator said on Tuesday. The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority said in a financial stability report that both sectors face challenges, partly due to uncertainty caused by national elections and the U.K.’s Brexit negotiations, which began in Brussels on Monday. The industries also face obstacles due to the growing risk of terrorism and cyberattack,...

June 21, 2017
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21Jun

UK. DB transfer paper shows FCA ‘moving into 21st century’, say advisers

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) consultation paper on advising on defined benefit (DB) pension transfers has brought the regulator's approach into the 21st century, according to advisers. The paper proposed a number of vital changes to regulation on DB transfers so as to mitigate the risk posed to consumers of giving up safeguarded benefits. These included removing the default position that transferring out of a defined benefit scheme was 'unsuitable' for a client, clarifying the definition of an 'insistent client', and...

June 21, 2017
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20Jun

UK pensions lifeboat to invest £150m in M6 toll road deal

Sky News has learnt that the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is putting the funds into the company which operates the M6 toll road, just days after it was sold to IFM Investors, its second group of Australian owners. The PPF is understood to be investing in the debt attached to the M6's operating company, alongside the infrastructure arm of Allianz Global Investors, the German asset manager. Sources said the deal would be announced later this week, possibly as early as Tuesday. It...

June 20, 2017
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20Jun

US. Ending Pittsburgh’s fossil fuel pension investments wouldn’t be easy or cheap

Researchers say that Pittsburgh's pension funds could lose nearly $500,000 a year if the city stops investing in fossil fuel-related companies — as Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto has said he is committed to doing. While that loss would be damaging for Pittsburgh's underfunded pension funds, it wouldn't do much to change the behavior of fossil fuel companies, the researchers suggest. “It's purely a symbolic move that has no impact on the climate,” said Chris Fiore of the Chicago-based economic consulting firm...

June 20, 2017
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