January 2021
07Jan

UK. Regulators and police say Covid lockdowns have driven up online pension scams and demand regulation of Google, Facebook and others

As people spend longer shopping online, scammers pounce through Google and Facebook.Online pension scams run through social media sites are surging as people are stuck at home in lockdown, regulators and police warned MPs today. Scammers have become increasingly skilled at advertising fake pension investments through Google, Facebook and other digital means, and the increased use of the internet by the public to buy shopping and services has created a fertile environment for the scammers, officials from the Financial Conduct...

January 7, 2021
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07Jan

Dutch schemes slow to implement RI agreement

Not a single one of the more than 80 Dutch pension funds that signed an agreement on furthering responsible investment two years ago has yet implemented all of its guidelines, a monitoring commission has found. The commission has found this “worrisome”, it said in a report it published just before Christmas. The so-called IMVB-convenant – an agreement for international responsible investing – has been signed by more than 80 pension funds, accounting for more than 90% of total Dutch pension...

January 7, 2021
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07Jan

One in eight in UK lose track of workplace pensions

One in eight Brits have admitted to not knowing how many old workplace pension pots they have, according to a new poll. Some 13% of respondents surveyed by investment platform Interactive Investor said the number of workplace pensions they had was a mystery. “The mystery of missing pensions is one you definitely want to solve as over the years,” said Becky O’Connor, head of pensions and savings at Interactive Investor, said. “Investment growth – even for pots you haven’t been contributing...

January 7, 2021
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07Jan

ESG Investing and Retirement Plans

As ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing recently has drawn the attention of governmental agencies that oversee the administration of qualified retirement plans and their trillions of dollars in assets.  This is unsurprising given that focus and interest in ESG investing has picked steam at a rapid pace in recent years.  On October 30, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) finalized amendments to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s (ERISA) “investment duties” regulation (the Final Investment Duties Rule).  The...

January 7, 2021
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06Jan

Pension funds need a radical rethink

Good pensions finance good infrastructure. Good infrastructure pays for good pensions. This crucial relationship only gets noticed when they both go missing — as the US, UK and several other countries are finding out. Having largely dismantled the defined benefit corporate pensions of yesteryear, they now struggle to turn fragmented individual pensions into the long-term investments their savers and their economies require. Fixing this is vital. It will not be easy. Also Read Uk regulators and police say covid lockdowns...

January 6, 2021
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06Jan

India. New fee structure opens the doors wider for pension fund managers: PFRDA chief

‘Increased fees will ensure both profitability and investment in infra’ Pension regulator PFRDA has now taken a big initiative to revamp the pension funds management structure in India and position the industry for strong decadal growth that could take the overall assets under management of the National Pension System (NPS) to ₹30-lakh crore by 2030. The regulator has now come out with a new Request for Proposal (RFP) for selection of sponsors of pension funds for NPS, throwing open the door for...

January 6, 2021
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06Jan

The Informal Economy and its Relation to Global poverty

The informal economy, also known as the informal sector, is the diversified set of economic activities, enterprises, jobs and workers that are not regulated or protected by the state. The definition of the informal economy has also recently expanded to include wage employment in unprotected jobs, such as daily wage jobs. However, generalizations of the informal economy often include terms such as “illegal” or “black market.” On the contrary, the vast majority of informal workers simply attempt to earn an honest...

January 6, 2021
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05Jan

How To Fix America’s Retirement Crisis: 10 Experts Weigh In

For decades there’s been a festering retirement crisis in America. Congress has repeatedly tried to resolve the retirement crisis via stop-gap, incremental efforts. It has created new retirement accounts, like Roth IRAs to benefit lower income workers, as well as tax-advantaged health savings accounts (HSAs) to help pay healthcare costs. It’s made it easier for small businesses to offer retirement plans, and it’s even allowed employers to auto-enroll employees. Also Read Americans retirement savings may not be that safe after all new surveyfinds Nevertheless, the retirement...

January 5, 2021
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05Jan

South Africa. Long-awaited pension reforms deal with only half of the problem

Many retiring members of provident funds have spent most of the lump sum on costs of living rather than investing it prudently to ensure a lasting income stream. They are forced to rely on the old age pension offered by the state. But upcoming retirement reforms to rectify the situation might only be half of the solution. State pensions essentially defeat the government’s purpose in offering tax incentives to members of pension funds – not provident funds –  during their...

January 5, 2021
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05Jan

UK. FTSE 350 DB pension deficit almost doubles in 2020 amid Covid and Brexit

The accounting deficit of FTSE 350 companies’ defined benefit (DB) pension schemes nearly doubled last year, increasing from £40bn at the end of 2019 to £70bn at the end of 2020, according to Mercer. The provider's Pension Risk Survey data showed that liability values had risen by £99bn over the past year, increasing from £815bn at 31 December 2019 to £914bn at the end of December 2020, which it attributed to falls in corporate bond yields. This was partially offset as...

January 5, 2021
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