June 2018

Russia proposes raising pension age, first hike in almost 90 years

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday proposed raising the pension age to 65 for men and 63 for women, the first hike for the country in almost nine decades. A legacy of the USSR, Russia's retirement age -- set at 55 for women and 60 for men since the early 1930s -- is currently among the lowest in the world. "We propose a relatively long transition period -- beginning in 2019 we propose incremental increases to reach retirement for men...

Kenya launched its first universal social pension

Starting this week, more than half a million older women and men in Kenya are receiving their first ever pensions. Under the new Government-funded Inua Jamii 70 and Above universal social pension, launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday 2 June, all Kenyans over 70 will receive 2,000 shillings (just under US$20) per month. This scheme is an important step towards ensuring all Kenyans, regardless of circumstance, have access to a reliable income in older age. It is also now the...

UK. Most top workplace pension providers risk supporting chemical warfare

That is according to a new report from investment watchdog ShareAction, which reveals that millions of pension savers could be inadvertently supporting conflicts across the world. For their default funds, Aviva, The People’s Pension, Royal London, Scottish Widows, Aegon, and Standard Life all fail to screen out firms producing toxic components of harmful weapons. The research also shows that Aegon has no exclusion policy for controversial weapons in any of its funds, allowing investments in anti-personnel mines and cluster bombs. Read More: The...

Canada pension fund preps for green bond issue

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) intends to issue its inaugural green bond and thus become the first pension fund to do so, it announced on Monday. The company did not disclose the size of the offering but pointed out it had announced plans over the past year to spend over CAD 3 billion (USD 2.3bn/EUR 1.95bn) on renewable energy assets. The proceeds from the issue will go towards investments in wind and solar projects, sustainable water and wastewater management...

US. Should We Continue To Count On Employers For Retirement Provision?

Yes, this is a question. It's not even a rhetorical question. It's something that I ask myself, and I invite readers to think about. We take the so-called "three-legged stool" a bit for granted, don't we? Employers historically provided pension benefits for their employees, in a time and a place when it made sense for them to do so, when they relied on those pensions to scoot aging employees out the door at a traditional normal or even early retirement...

Nigeria. Micro pension will create next phase of growth — Stanbic IBTC Pension boss

How will the proposed micro pension impact growth of the pension industry?  The proposed micro pension scheme is one initiative with great potential capable of landing the industry into its next phase of growth. Regardless of the inherent challenges, the micro pension scheme has the capability to deepen asset accumulation in Nigeria considering that 70 percent of Nigeria's working population operates in the informal sector. Read More: Vanguard Nigeria

The World’s Biggest Pension Fund Struggles With Sustainability

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund has nearly $1.5 trillion in assets and a legion of external asset managers running its portfolio. The GPIF sees itself as a “super-long-term investor” with the goal of a century or more of sustainable investment and outflows. Managing money for that long is a matter of stewardship, not just picking assets — and in the past few years, the GPIF has included environmental, social and governance factors as part of its stewardship responsibilities. For the...

Millennials and retirement: How bad is it?

Concern about the financial health of America’s younger generations is growing—especially millennials, a demographic boom that came of age in an environment of unstable work and record levels of student debt. Experts worry that millennials are falling so far behind previous generations that their retirement may be at risk. My research suggests that those concerns are real, and millennials really are building wealth more slowly than the other working generations. But they are not insurmountable—as long as millennials are willing...

UK sees use of blockchain as nonviable for welfare and benefits system

The UK parliament faces an increasing number of questions concerning cryptocurrencies and the technology behind them. The stance of the UK officials, however, remains cautious. On Thursday, June 7, 2018, Kit Malthouse, Conservative MP of the House of Commons, had to respond to a question asked earlier by Martin Docherty-Hughes ( of West Dunbartonshire) about the potential applications of blockchain. He asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recommendations were made to her Department as a result...

Shanghai issues first tax-deferred pension policy

A Chinese insurance company on Thursday issued the country's first tax-deferred pension insurance policy in Shanghai, marking the beginning of the long-awaited tax-deferred pension plan. China Pacific Life Insurance Co., Ltd. issued the insurance policy to Cai Jun, captain of the maiden flight for C919, China's first home-made large passenger plane. In May, a pilot tax-deferred pension insurance project has been launched in Shanghai, Fujian Province and Suzhou Industrial Park in Jiangsu Province, respectively. Read More: XinhuaNet