July 2019

25Jul

Dutch Pension Plans to Merge, Creating a $23.4 Billion Fund

Looks like Dutch transportation pension funds SPF and SPOV will be merging after all. The two plans have agreed to consolidate their assets under management into a $23.4 billion plan, IPE reports. SPF covers railway pensioners and SPOV handles the retirement assets of public transportation workers. Both funds had talked about merging in 2016, but negotiations collapsed after they decided there wouldn’t be sufficient benefits for them to meet their obligations. Recently, SPF restarted discussions, arguing that a joint...

July 25, 2019
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25Jul

China. ETFs fast gaining popularity

Chinese fund management companies should ride the boom of pension fund-of-funds providers and work closely to develop more exchange-traded fund products for longer-term retail wealth, according to a new survey. Assets under management of China's outstanding ETF products reached 381 billion yuan ($55.4 billion) in 2018, hitting a historical high, according to a study by consultancy Oliver Wyman released on Wednesday. Meanwhile, assets under management rapidly grew with close to 40 new funds launched during the year. ETFs are...

July 25, 2019
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25Jul

How healthcare can enable healthy aging

One of the most pressing issues facing healthcare today is population aging. Sometimes called the “grey wave” or “silver tsunami,” population aging is the shift in average age of a population from younger to older ages. Current projections from the U.S. Census Bureau point to 2030 as a milestone year in which older people will outnumber children for the first time in history. All baby boomers will be older than age 65 and one in every five residents will...

July 25, 2019
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24Jul

US.New Rule to Encourage Retirement Plans by Smaller Companies Coming Soon

Small businesses would have an easier time banding together to create joint 401(k) retirement plans for workers under a rule the Labor Department is set to finish soon, according to a senior administration official. The expected rule would broaden the ways companies could join together to offer retirement accounts. Under a proposal floated in October, different types of businesses, say landscaping companies and real-estate firms, could create a joint plan as long as they are located in the same...

July 24, 2019
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24Jul

Australia. There is a problem with retirement incomes, but it isn’t the super guarantee

There is a case for not proceeding with, or at least further deferring, the legislated increase in employers’ compulsory superannuation contributions from 9.5 per cent to 12 per cent. But the Grattan Institute’s latest analysis, published in The Conversation and elsewhere, does not make this case. Rather, it demonstrates extremely well a totally different problem with our retirement incomes system, and falsely ties it to our 9.5 per cent so-called “super guarantee”. That problem is that the pension assets...

July 24, 2019
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24Jul

US. How The Decline Of Pensions Furthered The Racial Wealth Gap

The gulf between those who will enjoy their golden years and those who will struggle is growing. An ever larger number of American workers will have to make large and painful cuts in their standard of living after they stop working. The retirement crisis comes on the heels of declining defined-benefit (DB) pensions. Riskier and costlier defined contribution (DC) accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs have taken their place. At the same time, the workforce has changed as non-white...

July 24, 2019
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24Jul

Two funds merge to form Australia’s second-largest pension fund

First State Super and VicSuper said on Tuesday that they have signed a binding deal to merge, creating Australia's second-largest pension fund as regulatory pressure drives consolidation. The new superannuation, or retirement, fund would have about A$120 billion (S$115 billion) in assets under management servicing over 1.1 million workers, the nonprofit funds said in a joint statement. AustralianSuper is the largest, managing about A$160 billion. A merger was a "proactive step for the two funds, and one that's very...

July 24, 2019
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23Jul

Canada. Unique retirement planning strategies needed for defined-benefit pension plan members

For people who have a defined-benefit (DB) pension plan through their employers, years of compulsory saving may eliminate much of the uncertainty around how much to set aside for retirement. But these pension plans are only part of an overall financial picture and can be subject to change, underscoring the need for financial advisors to prepare their clients for all possibilities. According to recent data from Statistics Canada, DB plans accounted for two-thirds of registered pension plans in 2017....

July 23, 2019
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23Jul

How UK finance is navigating sustainability

These are exciting times in UK sustainable finance as the sector prepares to capitalise on a series of opportunities. The UK sustainable fund management sector is already Europe’s largest with Eurosif data showing that in 2017 nearly £2 trillion of assets was managed using a variety of sustainable finance strategies. Further growth will be driven by new factors. Firstly, regulation is increasingly supportive. Changes to UK pension regulation mean most trust-based schemes will have to start disclosing their policies...

July 23, 2019
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23Jul

A good retirement plan? Try leaving gradually, instead of all at once

Because demography is destiny, more older people than ever are working in America, with a lot more to come. The question is how best to get there? One idea gaining traction is “phased retirement,” which lets workers gradually cut their hours and responsibilities while remaining on the job. The longer tenure improves their financial outlook and often provides social and emotional benefits. For employers, it’s a way to hold on to senior talent and institutional knowledge, which are...

July 23, 2019
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