January 2018

02Jan

Charity warns Ireland’s ageing population will ’impact every part of Irish life’

The number of older people in Ireland will go from half a million to a million and a half over the next five years. Charity for older people ’ALONE’, is warning that this will increase pressure on services like healthcare, transport and housing. CEO of ALONE, Sean Moynihan says they plan to dramatically increase their staff to help support our ageing population. He said: "It’ a big task and I think we’re an ageing population. "People need to realise this is going...

January 2, 2018
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01Jan

India. New fund managers and more incremental reform in pensions

The year 2017 saw some important developments in the pension sector, which is dominated in India by the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and the National Pension System (NPS). As any development in the sector impacts the savings of millions of individuals, even a minor change goes through many deliberations, and could take time. The developments in withdrawal rules, taxability and ease of operation, in 2017, too were incremental in nature. Similarly, no single big bang change is expected in 2018....

January 1, 2018
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01Jan

Japan. ESG investing for innovation

By Peter David Pedersen I imagine most people know about the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and, possibly, ESG investment. From working as a strategic advisor on corporate sustainability in Japan since the mid-1990s, I feel these two concepts represent major drivers of innovation for businesses across the world. ESG investment is a global movement that picked up speed around 2006, when the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) were launched at the New York Stock Exchange with more than 100 institutional investors as...

January 1, 2018
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December 2017

29Dec

Chile pension watchdog approves risk-based supervision model

Chile's pension watchdog SP has approved via a resolution changes to its risk-based supervision framework for private pension fund managers (AFPs) and unemployment insurance administrator AFC. The changes had been put out to public consultation in November. Comments from seven entities were received, according to SP. Coming into force on May 1 next year, the changes follow the enactment of a new law last year which grants SP specific powers regarding risk analysis and supervision of risk management. Under the legislation, SP is authorized...

December 29, 2017
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29Dec

UK to sink to the bottom of OECD wage growth index in 2018

Britain is set to have the worst wage growth of any wealthy nation next year, ranking behind Italy, Greece and Hungary, according to analysis by the TUC. The UK is forecast to come bottom from 32 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development wealthy nations for wage performance in 2018, according to the study of OECD figures by the unions’ umbrella group. British workers are expected to see their earnings decrease by 0.7% in 2018 when taking account of inflation, which has...

December 29, 2017
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29Dec

US. Blackstone & Others Sued for Faulty Investment Advice to KRS

KKR & Co. L.P. KKR , The Blackstone Group L.P. BX and PAAMCO along with their founders have been accused of violating their fiduciary duty to the Kentucky Retirement Systems pension fund by giving the fund wrong investment advice. Recently, a few Kentucky state workers filed a lawsuit against the three investment groups in Franklin Circuit Court. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages from these firms for losses incurred by KRS in investments recommended by them. The defendants also include some former or current KRS board members, and,...

December 29, 2017
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28Dec

What Makes the U.S. Retirement System a Bad Example

By Justin Fox The headline from the Dutch business newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad caught my eye on Twitter a few weeks ago: “America is the example of how not to do pensions.” The quote was from an interview with Angelien Kemna, who stepped down on Nov. 1 from the top finance job at APG Groep NV, which manages the Netherlands’ biggest (and world’s fifth-biggest) pension fund. After reading it, it struck me that it might be useful to let U.S. readers know what one of...

December 28, 2017
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28Dec

South Africa. Chequered past haunts new chair of multibillion rand pension fund

The Financial Services Board (FSB) has placed the control of the multibillion rand pension and beneficiary funds in the hands of, among others, a trustee with a chequered history. The FSB, which regulates the entire financial services sector except banks, has appointed Jan Mahlangu as one of the interim trustees of the SA Local Authorities (Sala) Pension Fund and the Municipal Councillors Pension Fund (MCPF). In 2010 Mahlangu resigned as Cosatu’s retirement fund policy coordinator after the union charged him following...

December 28, 2017
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28Dec

Only 13% of Retirement Plan Participants Seek Out Advice

TIAA Institute analyzed the use of advice in 23 plans for which it was the sole recordkeeper between 2009 and 2014 and found that a mere 13% of participants seek out advice. However, interest in advice increases with age, account balance and annual contribution level, according to TIAA’s report, “New Evidence on the Demand for Advice Within Retirement Plans.” For example, among those in the lowest five deciles with regards to their account balance, only 8% seek out advice. In deciles...

December 28, 2017
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27Dec

Czechs draw old-age pension for 24 years on average

Czechs take old-age pension for 24 years on average, while in 2000 it was 20 years, according to the Pension Yearbook with the latest data from 2016 that the Czech Social Security Administration (CSSZ) has released. Women spend 27 years and seven months in retirement, men 19 years and a month. Life expectancy has been gradually rising in the Czech Republic along with the length of years in retirement when people are drawing old-age pension. Read more @Prague Daily Monitor

December 27, 2017
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