June 2019

11Jun

UK. CMA produces new requirements on investment consultants and pension trustees

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has completed its changes to the investment consultancy and fiduciary management sectors with new rules covering the appointment of service providers by pension scheme trustees, and information provided to them. The CMA order (24 page / 230KB PDF) is the conclusion of an investigation into the supply and acquisition of investment consultancy services and fiduciary management services to and by institutional investors and employers in the UK. The investigation began in 2017 and...

June 11, 2019
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11Jun

Bank fraud in San Miguel de Allende: expats fight to regain US $40 million stolen through Ponzi scheme

In San Miguel de Allende, it is said foreigners live here either because they want to be forgotten, or because there’s no one left to remember them. This small-town alchemy of anonymity and forgettability laid the groundwork for an alleged decade-long Ponzi scheme estimated to have stolen US $40 million from more than 150 Banco Monex accounts belonging to United States, Canadian, British, European and Australian expatriates. While several local Mexicans were also embroiled in the bank fraud, the vast majority...

June 11, 2019
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10Jun

Japan. In historic first, G20 weighs aging as global risk

Ballooning healthcare costs, labor shortages and financial services for the elderly: for the first time Sunday, the world's top policymakers are tackling economic issues relating to aging and shrinking birthrates. G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs meeting in Japan -- where a rapidly aging population is a major domestic problem -- have been warned to address the issue before it is too late. "What we are saying is, 'If the issue of aging starts to show its impact...

June 10, 2019
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10Jun

UK. Doctors will leave NHS unless they see pension reforms, union warns

The Conservative Government must reform NHS pension taxation or risk an exodus of doctors and a major workforce crisis, the British Medical Association (BMA) has warned. The doctors’ union has requested an urgent meeting with Health Secretary Matt Hancock to see what can be done to stop experienced doctors leaving. Concerns about high-earning doctors’ pensions were raised in 2016 after the introduction of the “tapered annual allowance”. Under the scheme, for every £2 of income above £150,000 per year,...

June 10, 2019
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10Jun

Netherlands. What does the new pension agreement really mean?

Agreement on reforming the Dutch pension system has been 10 years in the making, and still needs fleshing out in detail – a process which is likely to take several more years at least. Social affairs minister Wouter Koolmees has said the plan for the transition to a new pensions system should be completed by the end of 2020 and that the cabinet aims to complete the legal framework for system reform by the start of 2022. However, there...

June 10, 2019
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07Jun

UK. Women fight pension age changes in court

Nearly four million women born in the 1950s have been affected by the raising of the state pension age from 60 to 66. Two claimants who are part of the Back To 60 campaign group have now taken the Department for Work and Pensions to the High Court in London, arguing that the change "unlawfully discriminated against them on the grounds of age, sex, and age and sex combined". They also claim that they were not given adequate notice....

June 7, 2019
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07Jun

US. 5 questions employers need to ask about retirement plans

In a tight labor market, offering an employer-sponsored retirement plan can give companies the advantage they need to attract and retain quality employees. Workplace savings plans can also positively impact a company’s bottom line. They provide business owners with a valuable tax deduction, while offering both employers and employees a tax-advantaged savings vehicle to help fund retirement. Allan Westcott, senior vice president and director of institutional services at United Wealth Management, a division of United Bank, offers the following...

June 7, 2019
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07Jun

New Zealand. ‘Evil’ spousal deduction policy affecting pensions to be abolished

The Government is overturning a controversial policy from the 1960s that allows people's pensions to be reduced if their partner also receives a pension from overseas. Under the Social Security Act 1964, if someone receives a higher pension from overseas, their own New Zealand pension will first be deducted, and then the balance is also taken from their partner in a process called spousal deduction. This sometimes leaves people with no pension money at all, while their partner holds...

June 7, 2019
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06Jun

Why a Decade of Bull Markets Hasn’t Fixed Pension Funding

In 2008, the average U.S. pension fund had 83 percent of what it needed to make good on retirement benefit promises. As of the end of 2018, pensions had only 72 percent, according to Conning’s “State of the States” report released Wednesday. “During the past decade, state pensions have had three main roadblocks to improving their funded status: restructuring, underperformance, and reduced contributions,” wrote the authors, who are members of asset manager Conning’s municipal research team. Part of the...

June 6, 2019
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06Jun

South Africa: Why Has the JSE Performed So Poorly?

That the local stock exchange has performed spectacularly badly for investors in recent years is no secret. The detail of why is unfortunately too often overlooked. Examining the JSE's top companies can illuminate the problems of the economy and the business environment - as well as giving us a clue about what might happen to JSE stocks in future. We should be concerned about the state of the JSE because most of us are invested in the stock market,...

June 6, 2019
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