September 2019

04Sep

Giant Norway pension fund weighs Brazil divestment over Amazon deforestation

KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund, with over US$80 billion in assets, is saying it may divest from transnational commodities traders operating in Brazil such as Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge and Cargill, if they work with producers who contribute to deforestation. KLP has $50 million in shares and loans with the firms. KLP is also reaching out to other investors to lobby them to use their financial influence to curb Amazon deforestation via supply chains. On August 28, Nordea,...

September 4, 2019
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04Sep

Ecuadorian Retirees demand Payment of their Pensions

Dozens of retirees from the National Electricity Corporation (CNEL) today demanded that President Lenin Moreno's government pay their pensions through the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS). New demonstrators joined the pensioner's hunger strike in Rocafuerte Square, in the center of Guayaquil, about 267 kilometers from the capital, who are claiming that they have received incomplete pension payments for the past decade. In the opinion of several strikers, the IESS calculated the retirement pension based on the unified basic salary...

September 4, 2019
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04Sep

Secrets to Success in Managing a Pension Fund

How often does it happen that a public pension fund chooses someone to manage its money — and then sticks with that person for 43 years? Only one streak I know of has lasted this long. The Atlanta-based investment counseling firm Bowen, Hanes and Company Inc., run by Jay Bowen, has received national acclaim for its long tenure overseeing the Tampa Fire and Police Pension Fund. Bowen, who is both chief executive and chief investment officer of his firm,...

September 4, 2019
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04Sep

US. Is Working Longer The Solution To The Retirement Crisis?

It’s an unavoidable fact: in our broken pension system, millions of older Americans lack the means to retire with dignity. Individual workers want a full retirement and are willing to take responsibility for it. Profligate spending—drinking too many lattes—is not the reason most Americans don’t have decent pensions. It is the do-it-yourself, commercial, voluntary system that has failed Americans planning for retirement Some policy makers (typically fit as a fiddle and happily employed as academics or Senators) have...

September 4, 2019
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03Sep

How the Mexican pensions sector plans to tackle a national demographic shift

As demographic shifts and technological innovations disrupt the Mexican pensions sector, industry leaders are seizing the opportunity to create a more sustainable and profitable future Linking the US with Central America, the expansive country of Mexico is the world’s 15th-largest economy and the second biggest in Latin America. Despite ongoing uncertainty surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Mexican economy has shown remarkable resilience of late, with the IMF expecting the nation to post a steady growth rate...

September 3, 2019
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03Sep

Top 20 pension funds’ AUM declines for first time in seven years

Assets under management (AUM) at the world's 300 largest pension funds fell in value by 0.4% to a total of US$18 trillion in 2018, in sharp contrast to an increase of 15.1% in 2017, according to the latest World 300 research from the Thinking Ahead Institute. The research, conducted in conjunction with Pensions & Investments, a leading U.S. investment newspaper, shows that the value of the top 20 pension funds' AUM fell by 1.6% in 2018, equating to 40.7%...

September 3, 2019
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03Sep

South Korea. Stalled reform

After 10 months of discussion, a committee on national pension reform last week suggested three options, all of which fall short of ensuring the long-term sustainability of the pension scheme, now under increasing strain. Differences in views between labor and business representatives barred the panel formed in October under the Economic, Social and Labor Council from working out a single proposal. The first option calls for freezing the income replacement rate, which is set to be lowered to 40...

September 3, 2019
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03Sep

Japan pension funds boost alternative assets in yield hunt, Mizuho says

Japanese pension funds are showing a growing appetite for investing in real estate and corporate debt as they seek higher returns in alternative assets amid ultra-low yields, the head of Mizuho Financial Group’s trust banking arm said. But the famously conservative investors probably won’t want a bite of SoftBank Group Corp’s new Vision Fund, Tetsuo Iimori, the chief executive of Mizuho Trust and Banking, told Reuters. Years of ultra-low interest rates have forced the hand of Japan’s mammoth pensions...

September 3, 2019
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03Sep

UK. New £8 million research centre to explore how digital technology will impact future of work

A major new research centre exploring how digital technologies are changing the world of work is to launch at the start of 2020. The Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit Centre) will operate from the business schools of the universities of Sussex and Leeds and aim to provide a compelling empirical base for policy makers beyond current levels of speculation as to the impact of new technologies on jobs and workers. The centre, which includes Eversheds Sutherland, Marks...

September 3, 2019
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02Sep

Government branded immoral over pensions of UK citizens in EU

The government will not give a lifetime guarantee to index-link the pensions of British nationals who have retired in the EU if there is a no-deal Brexit, a decision that has been described as “immoral” by campaigners. The government currently continually increases the payout of the basic state pension by either 2.5%, average wage growth or by the consumer price index, whichever is higher, on a reciprocal basis under EU regulations, a practice known as uprating. The government has...

September 2, 2019
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