March 2019

05Mar

Phoenix Group sees more UK Plc pension insurance deals as Brexit nears

Phoenix Group, Europe’s largest owner of life assurance funds closed to new customers, expects Britain’s approaching departure from the European Union to push more UK companies to offload risks linked to their pension schemes in 2019. The company also reported higher full-year profit and targeted cash generation of 3.8 billion pounds ($5.01 billion)from 2019 to 2023, more than the 2.5 billion pounds it earlier expected to earn between 2018 and 2022. Phoenix, poised to enter London’s blue-chip index, also...

March 5, 2019
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05Mar

Kenya’s pension firm enters Uganda’s market

A new pension administrator, Enwealth Financial Services, has entered Uganda’s pension market upon securing an operation license from the regulator, Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA). The firm that joins nine other pension administrators in the country plans to offer pension retirement services, training and consultancy services. Founded in 2011 in Kenya, it currently manages pension assets worth over Shs2trillion for 120 clients in 12 countries within Africa. Nelson Kuria, the company’s chairman Board of Directors said at the...

March 5, 2019
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04Mar

How sustainable income levels can protect portfolio strength

Taking a sustainable level of income is important in helping drawdown customers maintain a resilient portfolio during periods of investment volatility. Customers in income drawdown should think about the impact of volatility on their pension. While someone building up a pension can mitigate the effect of market falls by continuing to make contributions to their pension, those in income drawdown are not only not making contributions, they are actively drawing down their fund so it has less chance to...

March 4, 2019
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04Mar

Time to grow up over issue of ageing and the workplace

It is a long time since an Irish Taoiseach - Charlie Haughey – was able to boast about the country’s youthful population, about the fact that half of us were aged under 25. Back in the 1980s, we were young and poor, by European standards. The problem was a lack of jobs for our growing population. Since then, we have grown middle-aged. As family sizes have fallen, we have enjoyed what economists refer to as a "demographic dividend" as...

March 4, 2019
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04Mar

China’s social endowment insurance covers over 523 mln people

China's social endowment insurance for rural and urban residents has covered over 523 million people by the end of 2018, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS). Over 49 million people in poverty have benefited from the insurance program directly, MOHRSS data showed. The unemployment insurance premium has allocated 1.82 billion yuan (about 272 million U.S. dollars) of living subsidies to 402,000 migrant workers who had lost their jobs, the ministry said. The social endowment...

March 4, 2019
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04Mar

Ireland. Public sector ‘benefits the most’ from tax reliefs on pensions

Public servants are the biggest beneficiaries of the tax reliefs on pension contributions, a new report has found. This means that any move to reduce the tax reliefs will hit Government workers hard, prompting them to seek higher pay. The paper, by leading pensions actuaries Tony Gilhawley and Roma Burke, found that the State's contribution to the pension of an average public servant recruited before 2013 is 29pc of their salary, rising to 53pc for gardaí. Private sector workers...

March 4, 2019
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04Mar

The silver lining of an aging population

Economists often warn that an abundance of elders will be problematic for the economy. But new research shows that such a demographic shift could be a good thing. An aging populace, we’ve been told by policymakers, economists, and the media, poses one of the most vexing global economic challenges, and the repercussions of dwindling work populations are often portrayed as an impending crisis. But according to the authors of a new study, who reviewed the most recent literature on...

March 4, 2019
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01Mar

Greece and Argentina show why pension reforms should not be used as a quick fix for a financial crisis

Greece and Argentina both introduced radical pension reforms following the financial crisis. Drawing on recent research, Marina Angelaki and Leandro Carrera argue that while both countries lacked access to international financial markets and had unsustainable pension systems, the reforms have been short-sighted, ultimately undermining the adequacy and sustainability of pensions. A future overhaul of their systems looks unavoidable. Latin American countries have shared with those of southern Europe a common policy legacy of Bismarckian welfare states where benefits are...

March 1, 2019
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01Mar

Norway’s pension fund sell stake in 60 firms including palm oil over deforestation

Norway's $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, has pulled out of more than 33 palm oil companies over deforestation risks during the last seven years, a green group said on Thursday. Norway's Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), which released its annual report on Wednesday, sold stakes in more than 60 companies due to deforestation - including 33 firms involved in palm oil - Rainforest Foundation Norway said. "It's great to see that the GPFG is taking action...

March 1, 2019
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01Mar

What Pension Funds Need To Know About Commercial Real Estate

I was recently at a dinner party where I had the opportunity to talk with a New York City teacher, who kept pretty good tabs on her pension fund’s performance. She was worried about if, when the time came, there would be enough to fund her retirement and asked me point blank, “Where should we be investing?” Without hesitation I said, “Commercial real estate.” Historically, in order to protect assets, pension funds would invest in safer, low-risk products. Yet recently,...

March 1, 2019
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