March 2020

10Mar

What the coronavirus market fall means for UK pensions

Savers are nursing losses approaching 10% in their pension schemes since the start of the coronavirus market panic, while holders of share Isas have lost as much as a quarter of all their money in some funds. The stock market rout means someone who had accumulated £250,000 in their pension scheme at the start of this year will have seen it shrivel to about £225,000 on Monday. Holders of final salary-style pensions, mostly in the public sector, lose nothing...

March 10, 2020
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
10Mar

Norway’s Pension Giant Calls for Improved ESG Metrics

Norway’s $1.07 trillion Government Pension Fund Global, which owns stakes in more than 9,200 companies and owns 1.5% of all listed stocks, is pressing the companies it invests in to provide more tangible data regarding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. The fund said it’s no longer enough to hear promises of responsible investing, and that it’s time for companies to start providing hard data to show they’re being true to their word. “In recent years, we have...

March 10, 2020
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
10Mar

US. Retirement plans and the coronavirus: What moves do you make?

Linda is in a panic. She’s a 65-year-old divorcée who knew she had a very risky investment strategy for her age. She’s recently retired and receives about $1,300 in Social Security. Financial support she is receiving from an ex will end next year. All was going well until the coronavirus outbreak sent stock markets around the world tumbling. Linda has 100 percent of her retirement money invested in equities. She has a home and about $60,000 in cash, which is...

March 10, 2020
News, Slider,
Read more...
09Mar

Stock Markets Plunge Across the World as Coronavirus Sparks Oil Price War

Global stock markets, already reeling from intense panic over the spread of the novel coronavirus, plunged on Monday as oil prices nose-dived by more than 30 percent—the biggest daily drop since the Gulf War in 1991—after Saudi Arabia shocked the world by launching a price war against Russia. The drop comes as the number of confirmed cases of the virus reached nearly 110,000 worldwide. Read also PPI Coverage: Coronavirus’s effects on pensions Economists in the United States and Europe are now bracing for what...

March 9, 2020
News, Slider,
Read more...
09Mar

Mexico. ‘Unsustainable’: Mexico’s Pemex Buckling Under Crushing Pension Debt

Straining under a massive debt load and at risk of a ratings downgrade, Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) was hit with a record jump in its pension liabilities last year as more workers retired on generous benefits. Pemex [PEMX.UL] is fighting to avoid having its bonds cut to "junk" or speculative grade, which would put pressure on Mexico's sovereign rating and deal a heavy blow to populist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has vowed to revive it. Read...

March 9, 2020
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
09Mar

Growing Coronavirus Epidemic Is Straining Europe’s Health-Care System

Doctors say the continent is ill prepared to face a worsening coronavirus outbreak, with shortages of equipment including protective gear and hospital beds. Doctors in European countries where the coronavirus has just begun to spread are warning that their health-care systems aren’t prepared for an outbreak on the scale seen in China, South Korea or Italy. The Italian government on Sunday started to enforce a lockdown of some northern regions including the cities of Milan and Venice in a bid to...

March 9, 2020
News, Slider,
Read more...
09Mar

World Bank: Overcoming Major Barriers in U.S. Reverse Mortgage Market

Reverse mortgages have significant potential in serving aging parts of the global population, and can allow more seniors to make financial ends meet in retirement since loan proceeds can be applied to a multitude of scenarios. However, some key market realities and roadblocks with universal application to multiple parts of the world have kept reverse mortgages from flourishing in both well- and under-developed economies alike. This is according to a newly-published policy paper authored by researchers Peter Knaak, Margaret Miller...

March 9, 2020
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
09Mar

Asset owners, managers turn to technology to combat COVID-19

Asset owners and their money managers are adapting to seeing less of each other when it comes to the day-to-day business of managing institutional portfolios. The spread of COVID-19 across the globe and the potential threat it represents to human health and disruption to basic business practices in the U.S. have led to significantly curtailed travel and heavier reliance on remote meeting technology by both investors and managers. "Everyone in the North American investment management industry is watching everything going on...

March 9, 2020
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
09Mar

Climate: pension schemes are policy change enablers

The Private Pensions and Arm’s Length Bodies and The Pensions Regulator have set out how climate change risk should be incorporated into their work, following the publication of the UK government’s Green Finance Strategy in July 2019. The Pensions Regulator has an important role to play within the UK Government’s Green Finance Strategy to help pension funds deal with the material financial risks arising from climate change. This was the subject of correspondence between the Director of Private Pensions and Arm’s...

March 9, 2020
News, Slider,
Read more...
06Mar

Romania adds fourth pillar in the legal framework for pensions

Until February 2020, the Romanian legal framework regarding pensions followed the three-pillar model generally promoted by the World Bank. However, a recent enactment (i.e. Law no. 1/2020 on occupational retirement provisions) that entered into force on 7 February 2020, transposing Directive no. 2016/2341 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision, has introduced a fourth pillar into Romania’s legal framework on occupational retirement provisions....

March 6, 2020
News, Slider, ,
Read more...