July 2018

13Jul

South Africa. Public servants cash out pension then return to work: report

Public servants are resigning to cash out their pensions only to rejoin the public service, according to a report by the public service commission. The commission on Wednesday released its report on efficiency and effectiveness in the public service for the period between January 1 and March 31 2018. It observed a “lack of control” of resignations by public servants to cash out their pensions. The commission has recommended to the Department of Public Service and Administration and the Government...

July 13, 2018
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12Jul

The Gender Earnings Gap And Retirement

As of March 2017, women made up 47% of the workforce in the United States, owned close to 10 million businesses, and were the sole or primary breadwinners for 40% of families with children under 18 (U.S. Department of Labor blog 10/2017). In the forty years between 1975 and 2015, the number of women with children under 18 participating in the workforce increased by 23 percentage points (from 47% to 70%). During that same period, the number of women...

July 12, 2018
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12Jul

US. Millennials Benefiting from Retirement Plan Modernization

Millennials are the first generation to fully benefit from improvements made to retirement plans over the last decade, according to a survey from the Empower Institute. They are on track to replace 75% of their income in retirement, compared to 64% for Americans overall, 61% for Gen Xers and 58% for Baby Boomers. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 was enacted when Millennials began entering the workforce, and it paved the way for automatic enrollment and escalation, all the while...

July 12, 2018
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12Jul

Kenyan Pensions Managers Plan Fund for Infrastructure Projects

Kenyan pensions managers are working on a plan to pool resources and jointly invest in capital-intensive infrastructure projects, the nation’s biggest retirement-benefits administrator said. “We’re working together to come into a consortium to create a pool where we can jointly evaluate and jointly invest on bigger, bolder and better projects,” said Sandeep Raichura, the chief executive officer at Zamara, formerly known as Alexander Forbes East Africa Ltd. “We need to diversify onto the alternative asset space.” Read More: Bloomberg

July 12, 2018
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11Jul

Switzerland. Work pension challenge targets age-related unfair dismissals

The Workfair 50+external link group announced on Tuesday its intention of forcing a nationwide vote on the issue. It wants pension laws to be changed to make workplace pension fund contributions the same for everyone regardless of age. At present, both workers and employers pay increasing amounts as employees move into older age brackets. Workfair 50+ said it had conducted a survey that found 1,200 people who felt that age discrimination had led to their dismissal. Read More: Swiss Info

July 11, 2018
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11Jul

Fast-ageing Hong Kong district Kwai Tsing to test drive subsidised health care plan

Patients seeking out medical care at a new community health care hub in a Hong Kong district with one of the city’s fastest-ageing populations will get a government subsidy and fee caps on services. Details of the plan were revealed in a government paper on Tuesday, which set out proposals for a district health centre in Kwai Tsing, which is expected to open in the third quarter of 2019. First announced in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s policy address in...

July 11, 2018
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11Jul

Pension directors banned from running companies for 21 years

Gleeson Bessent Trustee Services (GBTS) and Gleeson Bessent Trustees (GBT), based in Preston, were wound up in the public interest by the courts in March 2017. Investigations by the Insolvency Service into the conduct of the directors has led to the four directors giving disqualification undertakings totaling 21 years , which means they cannot run a company directly or on behalf of someone else. Roger Bessent, of Lytham St Annes, and Tracy Park, of Freckleton, were directors of GTBS, while Roger...

July 11, 2018
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10Jul

India. CAG report points to irregular sanction of pensions

A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India tabled in the Assembly on Monday pointed out various defects in the implementation of pension schemes and brought out cases in which ineligible candidates were given pension, while some eligible candidates were not considered for the scheme. “Despite a 100% verification of pension eligibility in 2014, audit came across 118 ineligible beneficiaries receiving pension and 934 eligible beneficiaries not receiving pension, indicating the need for continuing periodical verifications,” the...

July 10, 2018
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10Jul

UK. Govt mulls flat-rate pension tax relief

The Treasury is considering whether to introduce a flat rate of pension tax relief to help fund the National Health Service. According to The Times, the Treasury has started to investigate the flat-rate proposal and says it could raise an additional £4bn in revenues. In June, the government promised to increase spending on the NHS by £20bn a year and a flat rate could help chancellor Philip Hammond raise money without breaching fiscal rules. Read More: Money Marketing

July 10, 2018
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10Jul

Greece. Government exploring ways to suspend pension cuts

The government is hoping that surpluses at the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA) will allow the non-implementation of pre-legislated pension cuts on January 1 next year. With the latest forecasts suggesting that the EFKA surplus could reach 1.3 billion euros by the end of the year, Labor Minister Effie Achtsioglou told Skai TV on Monday she did not rule out that the measure may be suspended, saying that the government will examine the issue after August 20, when Greece leaves...

July 10, 2018
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