August 2018

Papua New Guinea. Top PNG pension fund officer arrested by fraud squad

David Brown is the Independent Non-Executive Director of an Australian wealth management product provider, ClearView Wealth Ltd. The company has confirmed in a statement that he was arrested and charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud by PNG's National Fraud & Anti-Corruption Directorate.   Read more Radionz  

MetLife Profit Beats Estimates, Aided by U.S. Tax-Law Revamp

MetLife Inc. has tax-code changes and a deal with FedEx Corp. to thank for second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ expectations. Earnings at the U.S. business surged 36 percent from a year earlier, fueled by a reduced corporate-tax rate and a pension-risk transfer contract won from FedEx, the New York-based life insurer said Wednesday in a statement. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.30, beating the $1.17 estimate from 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Chief Executive Officer Steven Kandarian has been...

UK Financial services exports to the EU reach a record high

UK exports of financial services to the EU reached an all-time high of £25.9bn in 2017, according to data released today by the Office for National Statistics. A £3.5bn increase in the surplus on financial services was the largest driver of the UK’s services surplus last year. By destination, Europe was the largest contributor to the improvement in the financial services trade balance, with a £26.5bn surplus accounting for £2.9bn of the headline gain. The record high on financial services exports...

Japan. Behind the Scenes / Only 40% pay national pension premiums

With many people, including the self-employed, not paying into the national pension plan, the system is becoming increasingly hollowed out. The officially announced payment rate is in the 60 percent range, but the actual situation is worse. The risk is growing that many elderly people will only be able to receive a meager pension in the future. Up for 6 straight years The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry announced in June that the national pension premium payment rate (see below) in...

China is trying to talk its way out of a growing problem with its military veterans

BEIJING (Reuters) - A senior Chinese officer appealed to military veterans on Tuesday not to take complaints about their treatment to the streets and to "rationally" lodge appeals for redress. At the annual meeting of parliament in March, China set up a Ministry of Veterans Affairs as part of a broader government reshuffle, aiming to better look after former soldiers whose complaints about poor treatment have flared into scattered protests in recent years. In February 2017, Chinese military veterans staged two...

UK. Calls for HMRC to scrap rule penalising parents’ pensions

The taxman is under pressure to ditch a rule that costs busy new parents thousands of pounds in state pension entitlement. Parents who have taken time out of work to raise their baby get just three months during the frantic first weeks of having a newborn to register for child benefits with HMRC, allowing them to continue to build up their state pension though they are not employed. Those who failed to do this have already missed out on as much...

July 2018

Canada. Morneau Shepell releases the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers’ Pooled Funds

Morneau Shepell (TSX: MSI) has released the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers' Pooled Funds for the second quarter of 2018. According to the report, in the second quarter of 2018, diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of 2.9 per cent before management fees. "Most stock markets delivered excellent results in the second quarter, generating positive pension fund returns. Canadian and U.S. equities did particularly well, with returns of 6.8 per cent for the S&P/TSX and 5.6...

UK. Rush to cash-in small pensions will leave thousands below ‘acceptable’ retirement income, warns Just Group

Cashing in small pension pots early to rely on State benefits in retirement could leave many thousands of people struggling to achieve an acceptable income in later life, suggests new analysis by Just Group. The warning comes following the publication of Minimum Income Standards (MIS) by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) reflecting the public’s views on how much weekly income is needed to achieve a minimum acceptable standard of living in the UK today. The JRF’s 2018 report suggest the MIS...

3 arrested after Russian opposition rally on pension age

MOSCOW (AP) — Three Russian opposition leaders were detained by police minutes after a demonstration to protest a government plan to raise the age for receiving state retirement pensions ended Sunday. The demonstration in central Moscow had been authorized by city authorities and attracted thousands of people. No reason for the arrests was immediately given. Oleg Stepanov, a top aide to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, reported his detention on Twitter. He posted a photo of himself and the two others...

Korea. NPS adopting stewardship code

The National Pension Service (NPS), Korea’s largest institutional investor, is adopting a stewardship code that will allow it to engage in management decisions of the companies it invests in. The decision is getting strong opposition from the business community. After holding two meetings since last week, the National Pension Fund Management Committee decided to exercise limited rights when companies it invests in are hurting the interest of its clients, which is the Korean public with pensions, according to the Ministry of...