January 2022
26Jan

Spain to raise regular public pensions by 2.5% this year

Spain will raise most public pensions by 2.5% in 2022, boosting the average pensioner's income by around 250 euros ($281.78) a year Social Security Minister Jose Luis Escriva said on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting where the increase was approved. The lowest public pensions will increase by 3%, he added, while inflation reached 6.5% in 2021. Overall, the pension increase will cost some 6.5 billion euros. ($1 = 0.8872 euros) Read more @ZAWYA The newspaper El Economista explains today that on the same...

January 26, 2022
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26Jan

UK. Government confirms annual public service pension increase rate

The government has announced the rates of indexation and revaluation that will be applied to public service pensions in April 2022. In a written statement, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke, noted that public service pensions are required by law to increase annually in line with the state pension. Public service pensions will therefore increase in line with the 3.1 per cent rise in Consumer Prices Index (CPI) on 11 April 2022, except for those that have been in payment...

January 26, 2022
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26Jan

US. DC Pension Faces Whistleblower Suit Alleging Investment Fee Misreporting, ‘Toxic Culture’

A whistleblower has filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia Retirement Board alleging that it retaliated against her for saying that the fund wrongly reported investment management fees and was not monitoring private investment agreements. The lawsuit was filed by Erie Sampson, the fund’s general counsel and ethics counselor, in Washington, D.C. on December 30. The lawsuit describes a “toxic culture of fear and retaliation” at DCRB and alleged the pension fund had audit and compliance issues, which could be...

January 26, 2022
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25Jan

Aviva Investors CEO warns directors over sustainability targets

The chief executive of Aviva Investors has warned it will take action against company directors if they do not meet its expectations on sustainability improvements. In a letter sent to 1,500 companies in which Aviva Investors is invested, Mark Versey said the fund house will focus on their performances against four themes: biodiversity, human rights, climate and executive pay. He said the company would hold both boards and individual directors accountable at companies "where the pace of change on climate, biodiversity...

January 25, 2022
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25Jan

Fostering Inclusion in Mexico

Mexico has long suffered from high poverty and social exclusion. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has likely exacerbated these problems, an increase in social program spending helped lessen the negative impact on employment, retail sales, and poverty. Our recent staff paper argues that higher and more efficient spending on social programs, education, and health would reduce socioeconomic gaps, mitigate economic scarring from the pandemic, and foster an inclusive recovery. Longstanding social vulnerabilities According to the National Council for the Evaluation of Social...

January 25, 2022
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25Jan

OECD and Fintech Robos to launch ‘Pensions at a Glance 2021’ in MENA Region

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will launch its bi-annual international pension report “Pensions at a Glance 2021” in the MENA region for the first time, from Bahrain. The global organisation is considered to be the world’s most prominent think-tank and research center on pensions. They produce two bi-annual global reports on pensions: the OECD Pensions Outlook, and Pensions at a Glance. At the invitation of Bahrain-based Fintech Robos, providers of savings and pension technology, organizers of the Arab...

January 25, 2022
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24Jan

Companies’ U.S. Pension Plans Are More Overfunded Than They Have Been in Years

Companies’ U.S. pension plans are more overfunded than they have been in years amid strong equity markets. Those surpluses will likely go up further if long-term corporate bond yields continue to rise, as many of these plans use those yields to value their liabilities. That could prompt finance chiefs to revise their pension strategies. An estimated 40 of the largest 100 U.S. pension plans were funded at 100% or more in 2021, the most since 2007, and up from 16 in...

January 24, 2022
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24Jan

UK university pension scheme to add climate focus to 5 billion stg of AUM

Britain's Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) will add a climate focus to 5 billion pounds ($6.77 billion) of its assets under management to meet climate targets, it said on Monday. The climate focus will initially reduce emissions compared to the broad equity market by at least 30%, and further cut its carbon intensity by 7% each following year, USS said in a statement. USS, which has 82 billion pounds in total assets under management and is one of Britain's biggest pension schemes,...

January 24, 2022
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24Jan

Investors need to create own targets for China

Asset owners need to actively determine what their exposures to China's fast-growing equity universe should be, rather than relying on emerging markets benchmark indexes providing limited access now to some of the mainland's most compelling alpha and diversification opportunities, according to Acadian Asset Management LLC. The $113 billion Boston-based quant manager's Dec. 16 paper, "Polarizing Views: China's Impact on Emerging Markets Investing," calls on institutional investors to review and revamp their allocations to China, unconstrained by benchmark weights, based on...

January 24, 2022
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21Jan

U.S. Pension Funds Hold Clue to Relief for Slumping Treasuries

U.S. pension funds may be primed to take advantage of higher yields in global bonds and could put a floor on the market’s slump. Pension funding versus liabilities was close to 100% at the end of 2021, for the first time since the financial crisis, according to investment advisory firm Milliman, based on data from 100 U.S. public companies sponsoring the largest defined benefit pension plans. Such funds could be “keen to lock in” that status and turn to the...

January 21, 2022
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