September 2018

03Sep

Why Nigerians Seek Protection Of Participants In Micro Pension Scheme

The scheme is targeted at the informal sector operators who constitutes over 50 million working adults and un-pensionable Nigerian population who by virtue of their professions, trades and endeavours do neither belong to the current CPS arrangement provided by the Pension Reform Act 2014 as amended nor have a veritable platform to save for their retirement. Nigeria has an adult population of 96.4 million (50.8% Male and 49.2% Female) with 63.9% residing in the rural areas. 56.2million adults (58.3% of...

September 3, 2018
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03Sep

Pension reform in the Czech Republic

Throughout the last 20 years, pension reform has been a crucial topic of public debate in the Czech Republic. Since the major overhaul of the pension systems in 1995, which transformed the previous socialist model to a new one that would fit the market economy, many reform steps have been taken. Speaking for the policy makers and key stakeholders of the Czech society, it is appropriate to say that we believe the pension reform is an ongoing process that...

September 3, 2018
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August 2018

31Aug

Australia. RBA says outage won’t hit pension payments

Pensions and welfare payments do not appear to have been affected by the outage at the Reserve Bank of Australia’s main data centre that hit some payments systems on Thursday afternoon. In a statement issued on Thursday evening, Australia’s central bank said that “retail and corporate customers are able to make and receive payments including payments made through the New Payments Platform.” Crucially, the RBA said “domestic payments, including pensions, are also being processed.” The prospect of government payments being hit by...

August 31, 2018
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31Aug

Asians must wake up to the hidden costs of retirement

It is no secret that global debt levels are rising, and now stand above 300% of overall gross domestic product, to the consternation of at least some investors. Less well known is the equally disturbing fact that retirement liabilities -- future commitments covering pensions, health and social care costs -- are also rising rapidly and, in some countries, they already dwarf current debt levels. Today, this is primarily a problem for the developed world, including the U.S., Europe and Japan. But...

August 31, 2018
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31Aug

Russia Continue To Explore Blockchain, This Time It’s Pensions

Russia, they are on the fence about cryptocurrencies, but when it comes to blockchain technology, authorities and services over there see blockchain as a favourable innovation. Latest reports from Russia suggest that the Russian State Pension Fund (PFR), a social service within Russia, are set to start working with blockchain technologies in order to make the most of smart contracts, to issue employment contracts between employers and new employees. According to Cointelegraph, this new project plans to: “Introduce smart contracts to...

August 31, 2018
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31Aug

3 Challenges for Getting ESG Funds Into Retirement Plans

The recent decision made by the new CalSavers Retirement Savings Program not to offer an environmental, social, and governance option, despite its preference for doing so, highlights the challenges for getting ESG funds into retirement plans. The CalSavers Retirement Savings Program is a new state-run defined-contribution plan for employees in California who work for companies that don't offer their own retirement-savings plans. CalSavers issued a request for proposal, or RFP, in May 2018 for a simple lineup of passively managed...

August 31, 2018
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30Aug

US. 3 steps toward fixing America’s retirement system

The U.S. retirement system clearly has shortcomings that are leading to widespread insecurity among older workers. In recognition of this anxiety, recent meetings in Washington, D.C., focused on the system's much-needed modernization as the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) launched its Funding Our Future initiative. It focuses on three significant changes that could significantly improve retirement for many U.S. workers: Put Social Security on a sustainable financial path. More than two-thirds of Americans worry that Social Security won't be there when...

August 30, 2018
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30Aug

UK. Pensions: don’t cash out of defined benefits, warns regulator

Pension schemes are being warned they may be being too generous when offering cash lump sums to people considering transferring out of their gold-plated deals. A letter sent by the Pensions Regulator to defined benefit (DB) pension schemes suggests that trustees think about whether they should cut the amounts on offer for workers leaving the pension scheme. The letter has been sent to 14 schemes where the regulator is aware there has been a particular increase in transfer requests from members....

August 30, 2018
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30Aug

Germany. German coalition agrees upon measures to stabilize pensions

Labor Minister Hubertus Heil told ZDF television Wednesday that the measures agreed upon late Tuesday would bring "stability and security" for retirees by keeping pensions at 48 percent of a retiree's average working salary until 2025. Other measures include reducing employees' contributions to unemployment insurance by 0.5 percentage points to 2.5 percent of an employee's salary. Chancellor Angela Merkel's junior coalition partner, the Social Democrats, had hoped to stabilize pensions until 2040, but Heil said he was satisfied with the compromise,...

August 30, 2018
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30Aug

Russia. Putin softens pensions reform after his popularity ratings slip

The Russian president toned down the controversial proposals in a special address to the nation on Wednesday. He said women would be able to retire and claim their pensions at 60 instead of 63, as originally proposed - still a leap from the current age of 55. He also outlined several other concessions on the reform, although the changes to the retirement age for men, which will go from 60 to 65 in the new proposals, were unaltered. In a rare...

August 30, 2018
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