March 2018

22Mar

US. Investment trusts gobble assets; retirement plans retreat from active funds

US retirement plans pumped billions of dollars into investment trusts last year, helping asset managers offset some of the heavy cash outflows from their pricier actively managed funds. Assets in collective investment trusts, or CITs, run by T. Rowe Price Group Inc soared 54 percent last year to $88.9 billion. And assets in 16 CITs managed by Fidelity Investments rose 31 percent to $85.6 billion, according to a Reuters analysis of US Department of Labor reports. Read More: Reuters

March 22, 2018
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22Mar

India. Aadhaar obstacle depriving widows of pensions in Uttar Pradesh

Aadhaar, the Indian government’s bid to create the world’s biggest biometric database, has become a victim of “mission creep.” What began as a project to create a foolproof identification system to weed out duplicate and fake beneficiaries from public-welfare programs has morphed into a vast bureaucratic net that threatens to ensnare every citizen, rich or poor. In the process, its original purpose seems all but forgotten. In the rush to make Aadhaar mandatory for everything from opening a bank account...

March 22, 2018
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22Mar

Mexico to probe pension fund’s losing investment in indebted builder

Mexican federal auditors are investigating an investment made by the country’s state workers’ pension fund, after Reuters reported it spent millions of dollars on shares in a company spiraling toward bankruptcy. PensionIssste plowed more than $20 million into construction company ICA (ICA.MX) and became the largest shareholder just before ICA suspended debt payments, Reuters reported this month. The fund is set to lose most of its investment in a restructuring. The story sparked outrage in a country where corruption has become...

March 22, 2018
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21Mar

UK. The Battle Over Automatic Retirement Plan Enrollment

With the well-publicized retirement crisis looming, one might assume that any solution that leads to increased retirement savings would be welcomed with open arms. —Not so fast. Industry observers often set the amount of their pay that plan participants should strive to contribute in order to ensure a secure retirement at 10 percent. Fewer than 10 percent of employees meet that threshold. According to recent research by Cerulli, employees whose companies automatically enroll them in retirement plans are far more likely...

March 21, 2018
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21Mar

Global fund managers eye trillion dollar pension business in China

Global asset managers are lobbying Beijing to offer tax benefits and other incentives to entice China’s aging population to invest in mutual funds for their retirement, as funds eye a multi-trillion dollar opportunity in commercial pensions. Their hopes for a bigger role in China’s pension market and its reform process received a boost this month when regulators published guidelines for the introduction of Western-style pension target funds. Although such fund-of-fund (FoF) pension products are popular in mature markets like the United...

March 21, 2018
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21Mar

UK. How British Savers Finance Putin’s Russia

The quaint English city of Salisbury, known for its medieval streets, picturesque cathedral and bus tours to Stonehenge, has found itself on the map of international intrigue after a former Russian spy and his daughter were found poisoned on a park bench. Yet there’s a link with Russia that predates the sinister events that unfolded this month. It places Salisbury at the intersection of espionage and finance and exposes the scale of the challenge the U.K. faces if it wants...

March 21, 2018
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20Mar

Canadian pension fund CDPQ wants to be its own private equity investor

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), one of Canada’s biggest public pension funds, has relied on private equity firms to invest in leveraged corporate buyouts. Now it is building its own investing team to depend less on buyout firms as middle men. Private equity firms buy companies only to sell them a few years down the line for a profit. Their reputation as costcutters eyeing a speedier exit makes some companies more open to consider an investment from...

March 20, 2018
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20Mar

China able to pay old-age pension in time, in full: Premier Li

Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday that China has the ability to pay pension benefits to the senior in time and in full. The balance of the country's pension funds stands at 4.1 trillion yuan (645 billion U.S. dollars), Li told a press conference following the conclusion of the annual legislative session. "We have more revenue than expenditure," Li said. "We also have 1.8 trillion yuan social security fund as a strategic reserve". Read More: ECNS

March 20, 2018
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20Mar

UK. Stronger powers announced for TPR

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) will be given the power to issue punitive fines to companies that deliberately put defined benefit (DB) pension schemes at risk, the government confirmed today. Its white paper also outlines how legislation will be introduced to ensure company directors that have “committed wilful or grossly reckless behaviour” in relation to a pension scheme are criminally prosecuted. Funding standards will be enforced through a revised code, focused on prudence when assessing liabilities, appropriate factors for recovery plans, and...

March 20, 2018
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19Mar

Malta. Pensions boomerang hits MPs

The ill-conceived plan to enact legislation giving members of Parliament more privileges backfired. It also severely hit the reputation of parliamentarians to get their priorities right when discussing their own remuneration packages. In a nutshell, the primary provision of the proposed legislation was to give the opportunity for MPs who served in Parliament for one term to qualify for a full MP pension. So far, an MP has to serve two five-year terms to be eligible for a pension. In a...

March 19, 2018
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