February 2021
08Feb

Asia needs pension reforms for sustainable growth

ASIA is in a good starting position to thrive during the 2020s as it weathered the pandemic crisis in relatively good shape. Allianz SE notes while economic activity in the region declined by less than 2% in 2020, gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by more than 4% at the global level and by almost 8% in Latin America. The main reasons for Asia’s resilience, the multinational insurance group says, is robust growth of 2.3% in China, the only big economy of...

February 8, 2021
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08Feb

Simple error can leave Brits with £50,000 less than expected in pension pot

Millions of Brits are at risk of being caught short by over-estimating their state pension payments by up to £50,000, a consumer watchdog has warned. Research by Which? revealed three in 10 believe they will get thousands more through their retirement years because they have got their figures wrong. Only three in 10 knew the average weekly state pension is worth around £150 or £7.800 a year. But with guesses ranging from £175 to £200 a week or up to £10,400 a...

February 8, 2021
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08Feb

Norwegian Parties Agree to Expand Workplace Pension Plans

Norway’s ruling three-party coalition agreed with the opposition Progress Party to remove restrictions on private occupational pension plans so they can be extended to young and part-time workers. The changes would require employers to pay contributions to pension funds to those who work as little as one day a week, workers who earn less than the current basic amount under the national insurance system -- now at 101,351 kroner ($11,883) per year -- and to staff younger than 20. The...

February 8, 2021
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05Feb

Peru court scraps law allowing withdrawals from state-run pension system

Peru's Constitutional Court on Thursday tossed out a law that would have allowed the partial withdraw of savings by citizens enrolled with state pension fund, a measure that had prompted fierce opposition from interim President Francisco Sagasti. The court said in a statement that it had voted unanimously to overturn the law, calling it "unconstitutional." The law passed by opposition members of Congress in December, intended as a lifeline for those in need amid the coronavirus crisis, would have...

February 5, 2021
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05Feb

Investigation: Dutch, Japanese pension funds pay for Amazon deforestation

Two pension funds in the Netherlands and one from Japan have invested a combined half a billion dollars in Brazil’s top three meatpackers. These investments in cattle ranching, an industry that’s the main driver of Amazon deforestation, contradict the environmental stances of the respective funds and their national governments. The fund managers and other experts say maintaining their stake is a more effective way of pushing for change in the companies than simply dumping the stock. But there’s also a growing realization...

February 5, 2021
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05Feb

UK. FCA Launches Defined Benefit Advice Assessment Tool

Last month, the FCA launched its Defined Benefit Advice Assessment Tool (“DBAAT“) as part of its strategy to reduce harm to consumers and improve the suitability of defined benefit (“DB“) transfer advice. The tool will help firms to understand precisely how the FCA assesses the suitability of DB transfer advice. Background The launch of DBAAT comes in light of the FCA’s concerns that consumers are being advised to move their pensions out of DB schemes, despite the fact that...

February 5, 2021
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05Feb

Latin America needs a new social contract

In mexico city and Lima covid-19 patients are once again being turned away from hospitals with no beds to spare, while in Manaus, in northern Brazil, a new variant of the virus is killing a hundred people a day. The pandemic’s recession pushed 33m Latin Americans below the $5.50-a-day poverty line last year, according to the World Bank. Governments in the region are struggling to line up vaccines. So it may seem like a strange moment to be talking...

February 5, 2021
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05Feb

Latvian pensioners most at-risk of poverty in European Union

Latvian pensioners are the most at risk of suffering poverty among all European Union member states, according to data published by Eurostat February 3. Based upon data from 2019 the proportion of pensioners aged over 65 who are deemed to be at risk of poverty was between 10% and 30% in the majority of EU Member States. The four countries with an at-risk-of-poverty rate above 30% in 2019 were Latvia (54%), Estonia (51%), Bulgaria (36%) and Lithuania (35%). In...

February 5, 2021
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04Feb

Greece’s number of retirees at poverty risk surprises

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, released new data today that measures how many pensioners are at risk of poverty, and their findings on Greece may very well surprise you. The statistical office said “In 2019, the proportion of pensioners aged over 65 at risk of poverty in the EU stood at 15.1%, slightly above the figure of 14.5% in 2018 as well as above the risk of poverty of working age population (16 to 64 years)...

February 4, 2021
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04Feb

Chile patients find relief with withdrawal of pensions

Ximena Nancumil saves Jan. 21 as a special date on her calendar. That day, her father, who was ill with prostate cancer, had not wanted to drink or eat anything, but his face changed with the news that the Chilean Senate had approved the withdrawal of pension funds for terminal patients. “The day my dad found out he was very deteriorated, he didn’t even had any water, but when he heard the news it was like a balm for...

February 4, 2021
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