January 2021

13Jan

Canada Pension Plan Joins BTG in Bid for Brazil Telecom Business

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is joining a fund managed by Banco BTG Pactual SA to make a binding offer for the fiber unit of Brazilian telecom carrier Oi SA, according to people familiar with the matter. Read also Pensions and investments could be tapped for £800m in UK’s dormant assets The bid is expected Jan. 22, along with two other binding offers, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Highline do...

January 13, 2021
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12Jan

Pensions and investments could be tapped for £800m in UK’s dormant assets

Up to £800m in pensions and investments assets could be unlocked following a major expansion of the UK's ‘Dormant Assets Scheme', the government announced this morning. Assets held via vehicles including savings endowments, investment bonds and income drawdown will be made available for a range of UK projects through the scheme. According to governement data, over £745m has already been distributed to a variety of causes using dormant assets held in banks and building societies. A crucial change for...

January 12, 2021
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12Jan

US. Strong End to 2020 Puts DB Plan Funded Status Back to Where It Started the Year

The funded status of the nation’s largest corporate pension plans started and finished last year at the same level, as declining interest rates caused pension obligations to grow, offsetting gains from investments in equities and bonds, according to an analysis by Willis Towers Watson. Willis Towers Watson examined pension plan data for 366 Fortune 1000 companies that sponsor U.S. defined benefit (DB) plans and have a December fiscal-year-end date. Results indicate that the aggregate pension funded status is estimated...

January 12, 2021
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12Jan

A game changer for social protection? Six reflections on COVID-19 and the future of cash transfers

By The World Bank There is little doubt that the magnitude of the social protection response to COVID-19 is of historical proportions. According to our research on measures taken by 215 countries and territories, at least $800 billion have been invested in social protection in the past nine months, a level 22% higher than during the great recession of 2008–09. This amounts to more than 1,400 social protection measures, of which about one-third took the form of cash transfers reaching over 1.1...

January 12, 2021
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11Jan

Infrastructure investing is no pension fund free ride (In response to “pension funds need a radical rethink”)

By Bernard H. Casey Robin Harding argues that “pension funds need a radical rethink” (Opinion, January 6). But remember investing in infrastructure is nothing new for pension funds. I recall being at an event at the London School of Economics in September 2011 where Nick Clegg, then the deputy prime minister, proposed this as a way to get the economy moving without the need for additional public expenditure. I raised the example of Australian and Canadian funds with him —...

January 11, 2021
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11Jan

UK. Nest plans bold expansion into private markets

Nest, one of the UK’s largest workplace pension schemes with 10m members, is planning an aggressive push into private markets which could “comfortably” exceed a fifth of its entire £13bn investment portfolio. Nest has about 9 per cent in private markets, including 6 per cent in private credit, with the remainder in direct commercial real estate. By the first quarter of next year, it aims to raise its private market holdings to about 15 per cent by expanding its...

January 11, 2021
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11Jan

Australia. Digital identity the next frontier for FinTech innovation

Special Report: The growing prevalence of digital identities will have far-reaching consequences for the way we interact with our traditional banking and financial services institutions in shaping the contours of customer engagement. Read also New Zealand. Private superannuation savings schemes ‘underperforming’ The renewed investment by the federal government in digital identification presents a telling blueprint for the future of public-facing interactions – one which could completely transform legacy systems and infrastructure, particularly when applied to Australia’s financial services sector. Read...

January 11, 2021
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11Jan

Pension crisis hits families in Indiana and across the US

Did you know that several families in our community, state and across America, including mine, are facing the loss of our pensions in the very near future? A recent estimate is that 1 million plus pensioners that have “Multi Employer Pension Plans” are trying to survive this crisis. These pensions, for which we worked longer hours, increased productivity and gave up wages, should have been considered sacred and above all, guaranteed. Reflect for a moment about the stress on...

January 11, 2021
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11Jan

New Zealand. Private superannuation savings schemes ‘underperforming’

People in old-style workplace superannuation savings schemes are often getting lower returns from their investments than they would in KiwiSaver schemes, and it’s prompting some to call for change. Old-style workplace super savings schemes are increasingly revealing to savers how they are tracking compared to KiwiSaver funds, and it’s not flattering their performance. Schemes publish charts showing their funds’ performance compared to the median, or average, KiwiSaver fund in each fund category. There is big money tied up in...

January 11, 2021
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08Jan

Canada. Ontario students push teachers to pressure pension fund to divest from fossil fuels

An environmental coalition is appealing to Ontario teachers to pressure their pension fund to divest from companies that develop or transport fossil fuel products. In a four minute YouTube video, a group of students from across Ontario read a letter to their teachers, asking them to push the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to stop investing their retirement savings in oil, gas, coal, and pipeline companies. The coalition — which consists of activist groups Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health,...

January 8, 2021
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