June 2019

27Jun

The Disappearing DB Pension Plan

The use of defined benefit pension plans continues to decline as sponsors look to de-risk pension strategies. Governing a defined benefit (DB) pension plan and its investment strategy has always been challenging. Over the past decade it’s also become increasingly complex, not to mention costly, spurring many plan sponsors to reevaluate their pension plan approaches. A new survey of 155 U.S. senior finance executives conducted by CFO Research, in collaboration with Mercer, found that 77% of those DB plan...

June 27, 2019
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27Jun

UK. Ministers ‘sit on £7bn unclaimed benefits’ as pensioners suffer

More than one million pensioners are living in poverty while the Government hoards billions of pounds worth of benefits. Around £7billion of Pension Credits have gone unclaimed since 2017, meaning that some of the most vulnerable older people are missing out on around £49 a week. Experts predict the overall figure will rise to £17billion by 2022 – and from June 2020, over-75s will also find themselves without a free TV licence after the BBC's decision to offer the...

June 27, 2019
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27Jun

Japan’s workers scramble to make up $187,000 retirement shortfall

A panel report from Japan's financial regulator estimates that an average elderly couple will need an extra 20 million yen ($186,768) to fund a 30-year retirement. That has prompted retail investors, many still in their 20s, to start building up assets on their own. Nikkei surveyed major online brokerages about the changes they have seen since the report was released on June 3. From June 10 to 14, Rakuten Securities saw applications for the Nippon Individual Savings Account program...

June 27, 2019
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26Jun

Australia. The ‘average’ retiree is now self-funded

Australia has reached a major milestone, with most new retirees having enough savings to be self-funded rather than reliant on the age pension, new research shows. More than half of 66-year-olds were not accessing the age pension at December 2018 because their assets and income were too high, while 20 per cent were on a part pension. Only 25 per cent were drawing a full age pension. According to Jeremy Cooper, chairman of retirement income at Challenger who conducted...

June 26, 2019
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26Jun

S. African Pensions Seen at Risk If State Forces Investments

A plan mooted by South Africa’s ruling African National Congress to force retirement funds into investing in specific state-owned companies or government projects could leave pensioners poorer. The ANC in its election manifesto earlier this year said it would investigate using prescribed assets to help foster inclusive economic growth, fund social improvements and diversify the finance industry. A lack of detail as to how this could materialize since it was accepted at the party’s policy conference in 2017 has...

June 26, 2019
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26Jun

Japan. Abe survives no-trust vote over pension report scandal

The opposition bloc tabled the motion in Japan's National Diet just before the current parliamentary term was due to come to a close. Given the ample majority enjoyed by Abe's government in both of Japan's parliamentary chambers, the no-confidence vote was never expected to pass. Opposition parties moved against the head of government following a controversial government report earlier this month that underscored the unsustainability of the public pensions system and seemed to encourage private savings as a...

June 26, 2019
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26Jun

US. The Gender Gap We Need to Worry About: Retirement-Savings Shortfalls

Most Americans aren't saving enough for retirement, leading to big retirement-savings shortfalls. In fact, according to Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), more than four in 10 families where the head of household is between the ages of 35 and 64 will run short of money during their retirement. Not all households are equally short on cash for the future, though. In fact, EBRI found a shocking discrepancy between the projected retirement-savings shortfalls of older single women and those of...

June 26, 2019
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26Jun

Virtual visits: how Finland is coping with an ageing population

It’s 11.30am on a midweek June morning in Helsinki, Finland. Duvi Leineberg, a remote care nurse, is doing the lunch rounds. But instead of jumping in a car and visiting each person one by one, she is sitting in an office looking at a large computer screen where she can see into seven people’s homes. Most are sitting at a table preparing to tuck into some food. This is a virtual lunch group, set up to make sure older...

June 26, 2019
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25Jun

Pensions, Nonprofits Lean Into Social Investing

Two new reports on environmental, social and governance investing show pensions and nonprofit firms’ greatest ESG interests, while another report shines a light on which firms are living up to ESG expectations, and which aren’t. Social investing seems to be the most active area of ESG for pension and nonprofit funds, according to a report by Escalent, a human behavior and analytics firm specializing in industries facing disruption and business transformation. Social investing was defined as pertaining to diversity,...

June 25, 2019
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25Jun

South Africa’s Market for Retirement Funding, 2019: Covering Comprehensive Profiles of 27 Public & Private Companies

This report is on retirement funding and provides information of size and state of retirement funding in South Africa, on the continent and internationally as well as the factors influencing the sector. There are comprehensive profiles of 27 public and private companies in the sector. These include the Public Investment Corporation, which manages the Government Employees Pension Fund, with 1.27 million members and assets under management totalling around R1.8-trillion. There are profiles of notable private sector players such as...

June 25, 2019
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