April 2018

17Apr

Growing financial sector reform starts to deliver private finance for sustainability

Huge progress on reforming the global financial system over the last four years has started to deliver desperately needed financing for sustainability and set up the next wave of action, according to a new United Nations report released today. The final report of the UN Environment Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System highlights opportunities to align the financial system with sustainable development, as well as pathways to success. The report offers real signs that a shift to...

April 17, 2018
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17Apr

US. The Mirage of Pension-Fund Activism

In her 2016 book No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age, union organizer Jane McAlevey argued that unions have repeatedly and fruitlessly searched for quick fixes to the long decline of organized labor. This hunt for a magic bullet has diverted unions from investing in the single enduring and indispensable source of working-class power: deep organizing to build workers’ collective capacities for struggle. One alluring shortcut to renewing labor’s strength has been to try to exploit the...

April 17, 2018
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17Apr

Zimbabwe. Health, pension deal for informal sector

The National Social Security Authority (NSSA)’s much-awaited pension and health insurance schemes for the informal sector have been established, with paid-up beneficiaries being entitled to retirement pension, survivor’s pension, funeral grants and health insurance coverage. The three voluntary schemes — Informal Sector, Health Insurance and Maternity Protection — will also include retirement grant, survivor’s grant, invalidity pension, invalidity grant and maternity cover as benefits. The schemes will come as a boost to most informal sector workers and self-employed actors who have...

April 17, 2018
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16Apr

India. Pension Scheme APY: Invest 210 Rupees Per Month To Earn A Pension of Rupees 5,000 Per Month

Rs. 5,000 per month. If that is the pension you desire after turning 60, you can take two routes - either invest Rs. 210 per month for 42 years or invest Rs. 1,454 per month for 20 years. Pension scheme APY or Atal Pension Yojana is a government-run scheme mainly focused on the unorganised sector employees. One can start investing in this pension scheme between 18 and 40 years of age to earn a fixed minimum monthly pension of...

April 16, 2018
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16Apr

Ireland. Using the right language is key to pension plan success

Pitching the pension message to workers will be key to the success of Government plans to introduce auto-enrolment in 2022. That’s the view of one industry expert who argues that an appreciation of human behaviour and close attention to the importance of language will determine how well the project is received. Ireland has struggled over recent decades to increase the number of private-sector workers putting money into pension savings. Despite myriad reports and several different initiatives – as well as generous...

April 16, 2018
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16Apr

Spanish Pension: Adjusting Biological Life Expectancy To That Of Social Life

The IMF highlights that the Spanish population, like that of other developed economies, will age over the coming years. The number of pensioners is increasing faster than the number of active workers. So the average salary is beginning to come in at the same level or below that of the average pension. In 2007, the number of pensioners stood at 6.4 million and in 2017 9.6 million. The Social Security forecasts that between 2017 and 2022, the deficit between contributions...

April 16, 2018
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13Apr

China. Shanghai to trial commercial pension model

Shanghai will launch a pilot program to offer tax benefits to entice the city's aging population to buy commercial pension insurance from May 1, said a statement by the Ministry of Finance yesterday. Under the program, buyers of commercial pensions will enjoy tax exemption of up to 1,000 yuan (US$159) of their monthly income. The pilot stipulates that the eligible commercial pension must be invested in low-risk or risk-free areas, and needs to be approved by the ministry, according to the...

April 13, 2018
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13Apr

How developing countries weave social safety nets

SOUP kitchens serve the needy for free; restaurants serve the hungry for money. In parts of South Asia, eateries near mosques sometimes fall into a third category. They feed the poor sitting patiently outside, whenever a pious or charitable passer-by pays them to do so. Alms-giving of this kind provides one traditional safety net for the destitute in developing countries. But it is, thankfully, not the only one. Read More: Economist

April 13, 2018
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13Apr

France. Defiant Macron to push through reforms despite strikes

French President Emmanuel Macron will stick to his plans for sweeping reforms despite strikes and street protests, he said on Thursday in his first TV interview in months, adding that he is not one to govern based on opinion polls. Since his election last May, Macron’s popularity has declined because of significant changes to France’s labour rules and a series of other reforms, including to debt-laden rail operator SNCF, taxes and parliament. “That some people are not happy doesn’t stop me,”...

April 13, 2018
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12Apr

US. Bain Double Impact calls trend, NY’s activist pension fund, affordable private schools in India

Bain Double Impact calls a trend: sustainable meals. Healthy eating led to sustainable foods, which led to Bain Capital Double Impact Fund’s double investment in the past week in healthy, sustainable restaurant ventures. The $390 million fund, headed by former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, is looking for what Patrick calls “big secular trends driving market opportunities around mission-driven brands and companies.” The Double Impact fund has taken an undisclosed stake in Sustainable Restaurant Group, based in Portland, Oregon, which operates five...

April 12, 2018
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