November 2021
02Nov

Ghana. NPRA raises alarm bells – Only 6% informal sector workers on pension scheme

Only about 600,000 out of an estimated 10.2 million workers in the informal sector are currently enrolled on at least a pension scheme, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), Mr Hayford Attah Krufi, has disclosed. He said the figure represented just six per cent of all informal sector workers who form 85 per cent of the country’s entire active labour population. “As a regulatory authority, we are worried that only six per cent of workers...

November 2, 2021
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02Nov

UK academics begin legal action to halt proposed cuts to pensions

UK university academics have launched legal action to try to halt proposed cuts to their pensions as well as speed up their retirement scheme’s divestment of shares in fossil fuel companies. Documents requesting permission to launch proceedings against the £80bn Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the UK’s largest private sector pension plan, were last week submitted to the High Court. The crux of the move is a decision by the trustees and managers of the 430,000-member scheme to undertake a health check...

November 2, 2021
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01Nov

US. DOL ESG investing rule could be here to stay

Democrats and Republicans in Washington broadly view retirement plan fiduciaries considering ESG factors in investment decisions much differently, with the Trump and Biden administrations promulgating vastly dissimilar regulations on the issue. A new rule proposal from the Department of Labor, which marks the latest move in a long-lasting regulatory fight, would explicitly permit retirement plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance factors when selecting investments and exercising shareholder rights. The proposal, which was unveiled Oct. 13...

November 1, 2021
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01Nov

South Africa Pension Funds To Exclude Non-CBDC Crypto Assets

South Africa Restricts Non-CBDC Crypto The South African government, in an effort to push its CBDCs, has introduced legislation that restricts non-CBDC crypto from being invested in pension funds. The new regulations are in sharp contrast to the older regulations that allowed portfolio managers to invest around 2.5% of funds into the category of “other assets,” which also included crypto assets. The new rules, however, exclude cryptocurrencies, citing a lack of protection. The Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System in the...

November 1, 2021
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01Nov

Ghana. Government explores use of pensions funds for mortgage

The government is exploring the possibility of prospective home buyers using their Tier Two and Tier Three pension funds as initial deposit to support their mortgage plans. The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Francis Asenso-Boakye, who made this known, observed that the quest to provide access to housing for Ghanaians, especially low-to-middle income earners, required sustainable policies and programmes aimed at ensuring that the issue of affordable housing no longer became a myth but a possibility. At the maiden Business24...

November 1, 2021
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01Nov

Uganda government shoulders more burden as Makerere University pension scheme expands

The government of Uganda is facing an additional financial burden of at least Ush60 million ($16,751) annually to cater for the expanded Makerere University Retirement Benefits Scheme that was approved by the Ministry of Finance. The Finance ministry remits 10 percent of an employee’s gross salary to the scheme, as employer contributions, and employees contribute five per cent of their gross salary. An expansion in the scheme’s membership directly leads to an increase in government’s costs in the short term....

November 1, 2021
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October 2021
29Oct

U.S. Pension Risk Transfer Market Hits an Estimated $16 Billion in Q3, Second Largest Reported Quarter to Date

Legal & General Retirement America (LGRA), a leading provider of pension risk solutions in the US, today released its third quarter Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) Monitor. The Monitor, which examines PRT transaction volume in the United States, estimates more than $16 billion in sales occurred over the past three months. Fueled by strong equity returns and rising interest rates, third quarter transaction volume was nearly twice the combined $8.8 billion recorded during the first two quarters of 2021. The third quarter...

October 29, 2021
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29Oct

Denmark. Pension major ATP aims for $31 billion of green investments by 2030

Denmark's ATP, one of Europe's largest pension funds, aims to have 200 billion Danish crowns ($31 billion) worth of green investments by 2030 and half that in 2025, it said in a statement on Thursday. "Reaching 100 billion DKK in green investments in just three years is - even for an investor of ATP's size - an ambitious challenge," ATP's chief executive Bo Foged said in a statement. "We want to spend the money where the return is attractive and a...

October 29, 2021
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29Oct

UK. PensionBee Partners with Plaid to Leverage Open Banking

PensionBee, a Fintech offering pension services, has integrated Plaid – a leading open banking provider. According to PensionBee, the partnership will expand the remit of Open Banking to include pensions, transforming the traditionally complex process. PensionBee previously offered open APIs but this will be an improvement on their services. PensionBee and Plaid’s collaboration is predicted to see pension contributions become easier and significantly faster. The legacy path of the pension process could be a two-week process. Now it will be turned...

October 29, 2021
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29Oct

Pensions Should Stop ‘Hibernating’ Investments, JPMorgan Says

Equities, hedge funds, real estate and emerging-markets sovereign debt are among the investment categories that can help pensions “fine-tune the level of risk relative to the expected return,” the asset manager said Thursday in its report. Defined-benefit employee retirement plans have leaned on long-duration fixed-income securities for too long, according to the report. Pensions should change the de-risking strategies they’ve pursued since the 2008 financial crisis to embrace a wider array of investments, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s asset-management unit said...

October 29, 2021
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