January 2022

Pensions dashboards should have interactive features, says ABI

Pensions dashboards should have interactive features to meet younger people’s digital needs, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). The ABI commissioned research which found that seven in 10 working people would like dashboards to be interactive. The industry has been working on dashboards which will allow people to see all their pensions in one place for several years. Younger people were more likely than those of retirement age to want options which are not just “read-only”, including using modelling tools...

Japan’s Sustainable Bond Market Helps Fund Aging Population

Japan is using the corporate bond market to tackle the challenge of having the world’s oldest population. Daiwa Securities Living Investment Corp. became the latest issuer to tap the market for social debt on Tuesday with the sale of a 10-year bond to refinance investments in facilities for the elderly at a coupon of 0.46%. Although the amount raised was only 2 billion yen ($17.5 million), the bond follows offers last year from Daiwa House Reit Investment Corp., United Urban Investment...

UK pension risk settlements to see volumes of over £45bn in 2021: Aon

Aon expects the UK pension risk settlement market to see volumes of over £45 billion reported for full-year 2021, making it the third year in a row that it has reached this level. Compared with recent years, the market in the first half of 2021 was relatively subdued with £7.7 billion of bulk annuity deals completed. However, the pace then accelerated in the next six months and Aon expects that there will be close to £30 billion of bulk annuity deals...

Commentary: China and ESG — a delicate balance

China and sustainable investing are two of the most important growth drivers for the asset management industry. So far, fund managers have pursued these two efforts in splendid isolation, without worrying about how activism at home might affect business in China. We expect this partition of affairs won't be sustainable for much longer. China represents the single most attractive new growth region for asset managers. It is already the second-largest market (after the U.S.) for asset management services: By year-end...

December 2021

Pension And Sovereign Wealth Funds Eye Crypto As Regulators Focus On A Global Crypto Framework

Nothing indicates the ascendance of an asset in the financial system more than a pension fund investing in it. It is the ultimate signal of arrival. The Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund (HFRRF) announced in 2021 that it was investing $25 million in bitcoin, the first time a U.S. pension fund invested in cryptocurrencies. The HFRRF investment is in collaboration with NYDIG through a customized private fund managed by NYDIG, the cryptoasset manager that just completed a $1 billion...

US. Rising Inflation Viewed as Biggest Threat to Retirement in 2022

While Americans worried most about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, they now see rising inflation as the biggest risk to their retirement plans. According to Allianz Life’s annual New Year’s Resolutions Study, nearly half (48%) of respondents identified the pandemic as the most worrisome threat of 2021. However, in looking ahead to 2022, a full one-quarter of Americans now view rising inflation as the single greatest risk to their retirement plans—more than doubling from 2020, when only...

October 2021

Nigeria. Will the pension industry attain full potential?

Yes, when necessary measures are put in place and the right steps taken, argues Paddy Ezeala The inflation rate is still in double digits; way above 17%. Combined with the continued nosedive of the naira, investors are their wits’ end as to how to navigate the situation. This is not the best of times globally. Most economic indices are pointing downwards in the face of a protracted global Covid-19 pandemic. Great economies are usually those that, among other things, have...

July 2021

UK. Half of millennials want cryptocurrencies in pensions

Almost half of millennials would like to invest their pension in cryptocurrencies, study finds. The research on UK pensions explores the appeal of new investment opportunities across different groups of savers. It finds that the appetite for cryptocurrencies is high among millennials at 40%. But digital currencies hold far less appeal for older generations. It was 10% among Gen X (age 41 to 56), 7% for baby boomers (aged 57 to 75) and 10% for the silent generation (aged 76 and older). The...

May 2021

China introduces three-child policy to alleviate problem of ageing population

China's government has announced it is scrapping a policy limiting couples to two children and will now allow them to have three. The change was approved during a Politburo meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping, according to official news agency Xinhua. The government said the problem of an ageing populace was deepening and the change would help to improve the structure of China's population and maintain its advantage in human resources. The policy change will come with "supportive measures, which will be...

Can green fintechs solve the polluting pension problem?

Fintechs have seen green, launching apps that help us track the carbon emissions of our shopping habits, play the stock market in a planet-friendly way and even fight plastic pollution with our debit cards. These offerings are nudging consumers towards better behaviours, but there is one far bigger and far less sexy financial problem this crop of startups now wants to tackle. Pensions. A new survey from YouGov and Money Matter found that 44% of people would switch over to a...