January 2018

24Jan

UK. Universities face 14 days of strike action over pensions

Staff are angry at plans to change the Universities Superannuation Scheme from a defined benefit scheme, where they would have a guaranteed income in retirement - to a defined contribution scheme, where their pensions would be subject to changes in the stock market. UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: "Universities will be hit with levels of strike action not seen before on UK campuses if a deal cannot be done over the future of USS pensions." The union says it would...

January 24, 2018
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24Jan

World’s Largest Pension Fund Needs More Risky Business: Gadfly

It’s time the world’s largest pension fund boosted its risk appetite again. Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund has been fleeing local government bonds ever since it doubled its allocation targets for domestic and overseas stocks in late 2014. It’s likely to have already exceeded that quota due to the global equities bull run. As of Sept. 30, the latest data available, GPIF’s portfolio weighting in local and international shares was already within 1 percentage point of its target of 25 percent...

January 24, 2018
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23Jan

UK. Fears over 280,000 pensions as Barclays dumps final salary scheme on ‘casino bank’

Barclays has attracted stinging criticism over plans to give responsibility for its giant staff pension fund to its "riskier" investment banking division. Frank Field MP, who chairs the influential Work and Pensions parliamentary committee, has written to the chief of the Pensions Regulator over concerns that 280,000 savers' pensions have been put under threat by the move. Barclays offered staff a generous "final salary" pension scheme until 1997, when it was replaced with a "defined contribution" plan. The final salary fund,...

January 23, 2018
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23Jan

AIG to Expand Pension, Hedge Fund Ties After $5.56 Billion Deal

American International Group Inc. will expand its relationships with alternative-asset managers after it completes a $5.56 billion deal to buy Validus Holdings Ltd., Chief Executive Officer Brian Duperreault said. Validus’s AlphaCat unit, which oversees $3.4 billion, works with pensions, hedge funds and other investors to gain exposure to reinsurance assets, helping them bet on markets not closely correlated to financial securities such as stocks and bonds. Reinsurers provide backstop coverage for primary insurers. “Validus has been very, very good at matching...

January 23, 2018
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23Jan

Canadian pension fund buying USD-144m stake in India’s ReNew Power

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is paying USD 144 million (EUR 118m) for a minority stake in Indian renewables developer and operator ReNew Power Ventures Pvt Ltd The two parties said in a joint statement today that the Toronto-based investment management organisation is acquiring a 6.3% stake in ReNew Power from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The lender made its own equity investment in ReNew Power in July 2014. ReNew Power is an independent power producer (IPP) that develops wind,...

January 23, 2018
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22Jan

British PM May says will stop companies abusing pension schemes

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she would clamp down on bosses who try to “line their own pockets” while not protecting workers’ pensions, after the collapse of outsourcer Carillion with a 900-million-pound hole in its pension scheme. Writing in Sunday’s Observer newspaper, the Prime Minister said private companies could help deliver better public services, but the system needed to be rebalanced in favor of ordinary working people. “In the spring, we will set out tough new rules for executives who...

January 22, 2018
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22Jan

UK. Universities face disruption as union calls strike over pensions row

Universities across the UK are to face major disruption after workers voted to go on strike in a row over pensions. Of the 58% of University and College Union members who voted, 88% were in favour of strike action, with 93% approving of some other form of industrial action as talks with Universities UK over changes to the existing pensions scheme failed to deliver a solution. Universities UK (UUK) - the representative organisation for the country's universities - wants to change...

January 22, 2018
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19Jan

Zambia. Investment of Pension Funds: Part 1

It is widely recognised that a pension scheme represents a long-term contract between the employer as sponsor and the members. In this arrangement, employees give up part of the current salary through pension contributions in exchange for future retirement benefits. It is, therefore important that pension funds are properly invested in order to get good returns for the pension scheme members. To achieve this, we need an enabling environment and appropriate institutions to ‘grow’ pension funds. Government has established the environment...

January 19, 2018
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19Jan

IMF hails pension reform in Ukraine, notes some shortcomings

IMF Communications Director Gerry Rice said this at a briefing in Washington on Thursday, January 18, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "Ukraine recently adopted the pension law," he said, adding that it introduces some important provisions to modernize the pension system in Ukraine. At the same time, he said, pension reform "has some shortcomings that undermine incentives for people to work longer and contribute to the [pension] system." In this regard, Rice said that such changes do not "fully ensure a fair and...

January 19, 2018
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