August 2019

Execute your watchdog role effectively: President of Ghana to regulatory agencies

President Akufo-Addo has charged regulatory agencies in Ghana to be up and doing in the discharge of their duties in order to safeguard the activities of the private sector. Addressing the opening ceremony of the National Conference on the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement in Ghana on the theme; “Harnessing the Benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for a Ghana Beyond Aid,” at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), President Akufo-Addo...

How UK has worst elderly poverty in western Europe: Study

The proportion of elderly people who are living in severe poverty in the UK is five times what it was in 1986, the Pension Reforms and Old Age Inequalities in Europe report found. The rate has shot up from 0.9 percent to around 5 percent. Professor Bernhard Ebbinghaus of the University of Oxford blamed state pensions for the rise in poverty among people aged 65 and over. He told The Observer: “The UK is a good example of the...

US. The looming crisis in long-term care

Taking care of the aging population is a crisis in the making, and no one — not families, not government programs and not the health care workforce — is prepared for it. The big picture: Providing health care to aging Baby Boomers will strain Medicare’s finances, but the problem is even bigger than that. Long-term care — the kind of services typically performed in a nursing home or by a home health aide — largely falls through the cracks...

South Africa should look to pensions instead of an IMF bailout: ANC

The ANC is looking at the possibility of using private and public pension funds to rescue the country’s struggling state-owned enterprises. In an interview with the Sunday Times Enoch Godongwana, head of the party’s economic transformation subcommittee, said that the asset management industry currently has R6 trillion under management which should be borrowed by government. Godongwana said using this approach to gather funds is better than going the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout. “Why would you go...

Australia warns retirees over heavily investing in cryptocurrency self-managed pensions

Australia warns retirees over heavily investing in cryptocurrency self-managed pensions The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has issued 18,000 warning letters to investors of self-managed super funds (SMSFs) for concentrating the majority of their retirement savings in cryptocurrencies, according to local news outlet Micky. In its letter, the office said that retirees have a “duty to comply with legal requirements to adopt investment strategies avoiding risky investments.” Non-compliance could see them face a fine of up to AU$2,400 (US$2,852). As...

UK. Fury as plan to work to 75 raises risk of death before retirement, pensioners say

A new report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), fronted by former Tory leader Iain Duncan-Smith, has proposed accelerating plans to increase the state pension age in order to boost the UK economy. The influential think-tank has hit out at the financial burden of the ageing population on public funds, and insists thousands of people aged 50 to 64-years-old are deemed “economically inactive”. One pensioners' group claimed the decision would mean more people would die before they reached...

Baby boomers win ‘the demographic lottery’ as wealth inequality grows

Young Australians are being locked out of a "generational bargain" as the wealth gap between children and their parents soars, new figures show, as the government prepares the terms of reference for its landmark retirement income review. The review, recommended by the banking royal commission, is likely to dominate the government's agenda next year as Treasurer Josh Frydenberg draft the terms of reference for the all-encompassing inquiry into pensions, superannuation, aged care funding, housing and the equity of taxpayer...

Japan. World’s largest pension fund promotes ESG and performance-based fees

The largest pension fund in the world has been clarifying its sustainability goals in the last few years and fund managers ought to take note, as it is an initiator and it is working with other large asset owners. Read also Japan’s Pension Fund Warns of Global Investing Losses On Tuesday, CalPERS's investment committee will hear a keynote presentation from Hiro Mizuno, executive managing director and chief investment officer of the Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF). He will present...

Ghana. Government pays GHC3.1bn to pension scheme

Government has released some 3.1billion cedis which were kept into the Pensions Trust Fund Account into the custodian accounts of the various public and private Sector pension schemes. Minister for Employment and Labour Relations Ignatius Baffour-Awuah who disclosed this at the Meet the Press series in Accra said the schemes include the Ghana Education Service Occupational Pension Scheme, Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme, Judicial Service Occupational Pension Scheme, Hedge Master Trust Occupational Pension Scheme and Public Sector Workers Employees’ Pension...

U.S. Elderly Bankruptcy Is On The Rise — Here’s Why

This week, the U.K.’s Financial Times covered an important and overlooked aspect of how the U.S. treats its elders: bankruptcy. Stories of seniors filing for bankruptcy are heartbreaking and uncomfortable, so I am not surprised that it took a correspondent paid by a foreign newspaper (Patti Waldmeir) to tell this American story from the lobbies of our bankruptcy courts. Like every good story, there are complicated victims and more than one perpetrator. Everyone has a role in the “crime.” Victims In Elder Bankruptcies Bankruptcy in...