September 2018

17Sep

Japan crosses new aging milestone, with 20% now 70 or older

Abe signals shift in priorities to easing labor shortages TOKYO -- As new estimates put the number of people in Japan age 70 or older at more than a fifth of the population for the first time, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is signaling a renewed focus on contending with the economic impact of an aging labor force. The 70-and-over segment of the population grew to an estimated 26.18 million, or 20.7%, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported Sunday. That marks an...

September 17, 2018
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14Sep

US. NYC doubling pension fund dollars in ‘climate solutions’

New York City plans to double the share of its pension fund invested in renewable energy, energy efficiency and other industries that aim to combat global warming. Mayor Bill de Blasio and city Comptroller Scott Stringer announced the new goal Thursday. Now, about $2 billion of the city's $195 billion in pension funds is invested in what are sometimes called climate solutions. The new plan would raise that investment to $4 billion over the next three years. The mayor and comptroller, both...

September 14, 2018
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14Sep

Australia can give pointers on pension reform to Korea

Head of investment firm says much was learned in 24 years Worries about the state pension fund have grown in Korea, as it may run out of money as Korea’s population ages. That has led many people to look for models abroad. Some are pointing to Australia’s superannuation corporate pension fund. Put simply, the superannuation system mandates an employer put aside a set portion of workers’ salary as a pension fund to be managed by a board trusted by workers. Australia is considered...

September 14, 2018
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14Sep

British Airways discharges £4.4bn in pension liabilities

Legal & General takes over responsibilities for 22,000 pensioners as airline tries to protect itself from higher costs in future British Airways has offloaded £4.4bn in pension liabilities to an insurance company in a bid to cap its pension responsibilities. Legal & General will effectively take over the liabilities for 22,000 British Airways pensioners in the largest deal of its kind in the UK. The aim of the “bulk annuity” deal is to protect British Airways from higher pension costs in...

September 14, 2018
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13Sep

How can we restore trust in pensions?

Savers have long remained detached and bemused by their pension arrangements. Indeed, the success of auto-enrolment has partly depended upon consumer inertia. Platform provider Hargreaves Lansdown has identified a ‘boredom threshold’ of £5,000, the point in accumulation at which a saver’s interest in his or her pension jumps. Efforts to engage savers with their pension continue at an unrelenting pace, with the Association of British Insurers going as far as to urge young savers to ‘love your pension’ in a campaign...

September 13, 2018
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13Sep

Mexico. ‘It needs to be absolutely clean’: How Sergio Méndez leads Mexico’s biggest pension fund

At the helm of Mexico’s largest pension fund, Sergio Méndez faces a regulatory sea change and a volatile economic backdrop. The key is to have a flexible battle plan. Before I sat down to interview Sergio Méndez, the chief investment officer of Afore XXI Banorte, there were some topics that I was pretty certain would come up – Mexico’s changing regulatory environment, its roller coaster market ride, Donald Trump – and so I prepared accordingly. But one subject I had definitely...

September 13, 2018
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13Sep

Estonia. Reform wants to increase average pensions by €200 over four years

Among pension-related campaign promises of the opposition Reform Party's election platform is a plan to increase Estonia's average monthly pension by €200 over four years. The leadership of the Reform Party on Wednesday approved core pension-related promises of its election platform ahead of the 2019 Riigikogu election. The popular opposition party has set as its goal the increasing of the average pension by €200 over the next four years, supported by economic growth. The Reform Party likewise wants to put an...

September 13, 2018
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13Sep

Population ageing in emerging Europe: Consequences and policy challenges

According to the 2018 Ageing Report, the EU will ‘turn increasingly grey’ in the coming decades. The latest projections reveal dramatic changes in the population structure up to 2070 in the EU and the central and eastern European countries (CEE-EU). For the EU, the size of the population is expected to be broadly unchanged, while for the CEE-EU it would fall considerably. For both, the population will be much older in the future, stemming from low birth rates, rising...

September 13, 2018
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12Sep

European Court: UK Pension Lifeboat Should Lift Compensation Cap

Last Thursday, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that pensioners should receive a minimum of 50 percent of the value of their pension in the event that their employer eventually goes bust. The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), the pensions lifeboat of the United Kingdom, had imposed a cap for the compensation of employees who had lost their pensions when their employers went under at £35,000. The CJEU reviewed the case of Grenville Hampshire who lost approximately 67 percent...

September 12, 2018
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12Sep

Switzerland. Supplementary benefits – what are they and who receives them?

Reducing financial support for the country’s poorest citizens is triggering heated debates in parliament, with no final decision expected this session. State expenditure has more than doubled since 2000 on so-called supplementary benefits for people who can’t get by on their pension alone. What’s at stake? The almost CHF5 billion ($5.1 billion) in supplementary benefitsexternal link that the state pays to more than 320,000 pensioners a year. What’s the purpose of supplementary benefits? According to the federal constitution, the old-age and disability pension...

September 12, 2018
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