October 2021

UK: Pension top-up for 1.2m low earners

Around 1.2m low earners currently missing out on tax top-ups on their pension contributions are to receive payments from the government under measures outlined in the Budget. Currently, individuals who don’t earn enough to pay tax, including hundreds of thousands of female part-time workers, are denied a government top-up on their pension contributions if they are enrolled in a “net pay” pension plan by their employer. In contrast, a similar low-earning saver enrolled in a “relief at source” pension arrangement can...

Chile’s Fourth Run on Pension Funds Heads to Senate After Committee Approval

Chile’s Senate Constitution Committee approved a proposal for a fourth round of early pension withdrawals that would pump as much as $20 billion into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Read also How Chile’s Pension System Became a Covid Piggy Bank The committee voted 3 to 2 in favor of legislation on Tuesday despite growing opposition to the measure. The bill now moves to the Senate floor, where it faces difficult odds of passing. Read also Olivia Mitchell: “La persistente falta de...

Liberia ex-warlord Taylor sues for pensions, benefits

Former Liberian warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor, jailed for five decades for war crimes, has filed a lawsuit against his country's government over its "refusal" to pay his pension and retirement benefits, according to a court statement. Taylor sparked a 13-year civil war in Liberia when he led a rebellion in 1989 to oust President Samuel Doe, which spiralled into one of Africa's bloodiest conflicts. He is currently serving a 50-year sentence in a British prison after being convicted in 2012 by a...

South Korean pension fund to invest in Bitcoin ETF: Report

South Korea’s public pension fund, the Korean Teachers’ Credit Union (KTCU), is reportedly looking to gain exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) via a crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF). Read also UK. PensionBee Partners with Plaid to Leverage Open Banking KTCU, one of the largest institutional investors in South Korea, is considering investing in a pure Bitcoin ETF or Bitcoin-linked ETFs in the first half of 2022, local news agency The Korea Economic Daily reported Monday. Read also US Public Pension Fund Invests In Bitcoin...

Firms Are Shaking Up Benefits To Keep Workers From Quitting. The Retirement Plan Could Be Next.

As resignations soar and the war for talent heats up amid a tight labor market, companies are turning to any tool at their disposal—even the normally staid retirement plan—to attract and retain workers. KPMG, the global accounting and consulting firm, announced to employees on Monday the most significant overhaul to its benefits plan in more than 10 years. The firm said it will reduce the cost of health premiums to employees by 10%, expand its paid family leave and add...

UK’s PensionBee Now has More than 100,000 Invested Customers

As previously reported, PensionBee is a leading online pension provider, helping consumers with transferring their old pensions into one new plan, that they can “easily manage online.” The company says it’s on a mission to “make you pension confident by helping you take control of your pension savings and plan for a happy retirement.” With PensionBee, clients are able to manage their pension from the palm of their hand. Users can check their real-time balance, see their projected retirement income, and...

COVID caused more than 3 million Americans to retire early, a new Fed analysis finds

More than 3 million Americans decided to retire earlier than they would have due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis. Miguel Faria E Castro, a senior economist at the St. Louis Fed, compared retirees to the baby-boomer trend to distinguish between “normal” and “excess” retirements. As of August, he found, there were slightly over 3 million excess retirements, which is more than half of the 5.25 million people who have left the labor force since the beginning...

UK. Pension funds invest £128 billion in fossil fuel businesses, according to new information.

Pension funds should use their huge financial power to help the fight against climate change, a Cabinet minister will say tomorrow. In a speech to the Policy Exchange think tank, Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey is to argue the multi-trillion pound retirement savings across the world can become a global “superpower” in the battle for a greener planet. Her address will coincide with the Government setting out plans to align UK pension rules with the 2015 Paris Accord goal to...

Dutch pension giant spurns fossil fuels as funds shift before COP26

Dutch pension fund ABP will divest 15 billion euros ($17.5 billion) of investments in fossil fuel producers by 2023, it said on Tuesday, as many of the world's biggest investors set out new climate policies ahead of next week's COP26 summit. Read also UK pension schemes are funding more emissions than the entire UK’s carbon footprint With policymakers gearing up for the talks aimed at accelerating action on global warming, financial firms from across the world are announcing new steps to...

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

LifeWorks (TSX: LWRK) has released the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers’ Pooled Funds for the third quarter of 2021. Read also UK. FCA creates LTAF, a new investment fund for pension schemes and specialized investors According to the report, in the third quarter of 2021, diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of 0.7 per cent before management fees and 8.0 per cent since the beginning of the year. Read also Pandemic Offers This Silver Lining For Retirement...