November 2019

11Nov

Poland Approves Plans to Overhaul Pension System

Poland is moving its state-guaranteed private pension benefits to IRA-like accounts. The shift is designed to trim the Polish government’s liabilities and save $5 billion thanks to reduced retirement outlays. The government-backed private system, called OFE, is valued at about $43 billion. Private pension funds are owned and run by firms like MetLife, NN Group, and Aviva. The government is transferring assets to fill a budget gap and minimize uncertainty. Poles’ private pension money will be moved to the...

November 11, 2019
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11Nov

German coalition parties avert government crisis with pension deal

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) on Sunday broke a deadlock over a higher basic pension for low-income workers, an impasse which had threatened the future of their governing coalition. Senior coalition members, including Merkel and SPD Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, sealed the compromise deal during talks in the chancellery that lasted more than six hours. The package also includes lower contributions to the public unemployment insurance scheme and the creation of an investment...

November 11, 2019
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11Nov

Bank of Estonia: Pension reform to bring pressure for tax increase with it

The Bank of Estonia recommends not making the second pillar of Estonia's pension system voluntary, as that may result in lower old-age pensions in the future and bring pressure to raise taxes in the future with it. The Ministry of Finance sent the pension reform bill that would make the second pillar optional for an interministerial round of approvals last Wednesday. Earlier this fall, the Bank of Estonia drew up an impact analysis of changes to the system of...

November 11, 2019
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11Nov

Ireland. Eldercare can be a double whammy for working women

Recently my colleagues at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) presented research results on the gender pension gap in Ireland. The research, sponsored by the Pensions Council, which advises government on pension policy, showed a gap of 35 per cent between the pensions of men and women. It also showed that this gap is driven by differences in access to occupational pensions. Subsequently, other ESRI colleagues presented research on older workers in Ireland. The Health and Safety Authority...

November 11, 2019
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11Nov

Congress Eyes Barring Federal Pension Investments in China

A bipartisan push, headed by GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, has introduced a bill to stop a federal retirement fund from investing in Chinese equities. The lawmakers are worried that using the retirement money to fund Chinese companies will undermine US economic and national security. They also dislike the companies’ failure to meet financial rules that are standard in today’s developed markets. CNBC reported last month that the Trump administration was weighing a similar move. And the White...

November 11, 2019
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08Nov

US. Pensions Venture Into Risky Corners of the Market in Hunt for Returns

Some pension-fund managers are venturing further into unusual investment territory as this year’s plunge in bond yields makes it harder to find decent long-term returns. Read also US. Coal Mine Workers Pension “Death” Deserves An Autopsy Funds are dabbling in riskier asset classes, including private markets, real-estate projects, infrastructure financing and direct lending. Some are making riskier fixed-income bets, buying volatile assets such as 100-year Argentine government bonds. Others are going farther afield, investing in greenhouses and waste management. Read also...

November 8, 2019
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08Nov

South Africa. Retirement Rogues and the Casualties of Circumstance

There is a mountain of money, R42bn to be exact, sitting in unclaimed benefit schemes out there, just sitting there, getting fatter, which means money for jam for the fund managers, but doesn't afford any jam to the estimated four million people who own this stash of cash. Read also Ghana. Health sector pensioners assured of lump sum payments come January 2020 There are multiple reasons for there being an estimated total of R42-billion in benefits owed to more than...

November 8, 2019
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08Nov

Estonia. Social affairs minister: Limit second pillar voluntary withdrawals

The Ministry of Social Affairs has proposed the Ministry of Finance amend its pension reform bill to limit the amount of money which can be withdrawn from the so-called second pillar fund. The draft bill was issued last Wednesday, with interested parties given a week to submit feedback, comments, suggestions etc. by midnight this Wednesday, Nov. 6. The social affairs ministry, a key player and part of the same coalition government, had not submitted its comments as of Wednesday...

November 8, 2019
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08Nov

Ghana. Health sector pensioners assured of lump sum payments come January 2020

The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme (HSOPS) has assured its contributors that they are reasonably ready to take over payments of lump sum come January 2020. Dr Derek Amoateng, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme, gave the assurance at the commissioning of the Scheme's temporary secretariat located on the premises of the Greater Accra Regional Office of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association's (GRNMA)...

November 8, 2019
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