October 2020

23Oct

Ethical investment remains a work in progress

The flurry of activity around Good Money Week this year feels more than justified. Launched in 2005, this annual initiative — which starts on Saturday — aims to help people understand the benefits of sustainable and ethical finance, whether in pensions, investments or savings. And 15 years on, Covid-19 is providing new motivation for investors to explore investing in ethical funds. Read also Canada. Quebec Pension Launches Fund to Boost Diversity in Smaller Firms The hard months of lockdown have...

October 23, 2020
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23Oct

US. The DOL’s ESG Proposal and DB Plans

There´s a lot of money in corporate defined benefit (DB) plans, and it can make a difference how those assets are invested. Cooper Abbott, president and chairman of Carillon Tower Advisers, notes that the Department of Labor (DOL) oversees employee benefit plans that represent approximately $10 trillion in combined assets under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Of this total, about $8 trillion is in mutual and other funds, and about $2 trillion is in directly...

October 23, 2020
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23Oct

Number of people working beyond retirement age on the rise in Germany

According to new statistics, around 1,3 million people in Germany who have reached the standard retirement age were still employed in 2019. Living to work The number of pensioners who are still working continues to rise in Germany. At the request of the AfD, the Federal Employment Agency has revealed that around 1,29 million people who had reached the standard retirement age were still gainfully employed in 2019. This amounts to around 400.000 more people compared to 2010, a...

October 23, 2020
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23Oct

UK. The Pensions Regulator issues guidance on £170bn pension ‘superfunds’

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published new guidance for trustees and employers on transferring to defined benefit (DB) ‘superfunds’, as PwC research suggests up to one million pension scheme members and £170bn of assets could take this route over the next decade DB superfunds offer a way for employers to consolidate existing schemes, by replacing the sponsoring employer with a capital-backed vehicle or a special purpose vehicle (SPV). They create a large retirement savings fund which includes different company...

October 23, 2020
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23Oct

How Well-Prepared Are Pension Funds for Climate Risk?

A major report recently released by United States federal regulators warns that climate change is starting to disrupt U.S. financial markets, as the costs of wildfires, floods and droughts penetrate insurance and mortgage markets. The report by the bipartisan Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC) lays out how escalating climate risks could threaten pension payouts over the coming decades. Divya Mankikar is an investment manager at CalPERS, the public pension for California’s public employees and the world’s largest pension...

October 23, 2020
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22Oct

US. Pension Fund Freezes New Investment With Apollo Over Founder’s Epstein Ties

A pension fund for Pennsylvania teachers said it had frozen new investments with Apollo Global Management amid concerns about ties between its founder, Leon Black, and Jeffrey Epstein. The $63 billion Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System said it spoke with Apollo officials last week after a New York Times report detailed the financial ties between the two men. Mr. Black made at least $50 million in payments and donations to entities affiliated with Mr. Epstein in the years...

October 22, 2020
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22Oct

UK. COVID-19 will bring forward the date when the pensions triple lock is unpicked

Today’s figures from the ONS show that inflation in the year to September was just 0.5%. September is usually particularly important as the increase in prices over the year to that point is conventionally used in calculating how benefits and state pensions are to be uprated in the following April. Read also UK. The Pensions Regulator issues guidance on £170bn pension ‘superfunds’ For the basic state pension and the new state pension current Government policy is triple lock indexation, which means that payments...

October 22, 2020
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22Oct

Kenya mulls reforms to attract pension funds to invest in infrastructure projects

Kenya mulls reforms to attract pension funds to invest in infrastructure projects. Kenya is considering a number of legal reforms in order to attract both foreign and domestic pension funds to invest in infrastructure projects, a government official said on Wednesday. Julius Muia principal secretary, National Treasury told a virtual meeting that the government is keen to tap on private sector resources in order to close the infrastructure funding gap. "If there are laws or policies that will make it easier for...

October 22, 2020
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22Oct

Estonia. Central bank chief: Pension reform will reduce public contribution to funds

Bank of Estonia chief Madis Müller says that many people in Estonia lack the ability or discipline to save, meaning the pension reform given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court on Tuesday will lead to both reduced pension pots and potentially higher taxation. "When the pension reform enters effect, people will be able to freely leave or join in the new year," Müller, who had opposed the reform bill when it passed the Riigikogu, told ETV news show "Aktuaalne kaamera" (AK)...

October 22, 2020
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22Oct

COVID-19 and the Future of Aging: Prospects for Older Workers

An AARP executive on jobs, flexible work and intergenerational unity (This article is the third in a weekly joint series on COVID-19 and the Future of Aging from the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging and Next Avenue. The articles are Q and As with thought leaders in fields ranging from health care to retirement planning to work to intergenerational relationships.) Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging: How can older and younger employees work together in this...

October 22, 2020
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