December 2017

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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27Dec

Armenia’s population continues ageing

The population of Armenia is ageing, says the report “The Demographic Handbook of Armenia, 2017,” published by Armenia’s National Statistical Service (NSS) on December 24. One of the main problems associated with the demographic situation is the population ageing, the process of which was greatly accelerated in Armenia during the post-Soviet period, the report says. In accordance with the United Nations’ scale of population ageing, if the share of the population aged 65 and over exceeds 7 percent of a country’s...

December 27, 2017
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26Dec

Brazil’s Temer urges pension reform in Christmas message

Brazilian President Michel Temer took advantage of his Christmas message broadcast Sunday night to once again urge congress to approve his controversial pension reform plan. Referencing the recent approval of pension reform in neighboring Argentina, he insisted the issue is not “ideological or partisan” — but rather a “question of the future of the country” to “guarantee pensioners of today and tomorrow their pensions.” The centerpiece policy of scaling back pensions has been met with dismay by most Brazilians —...

December 26, 2017
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26Dec

Kazakhstan may merge oil, pension funds: president

Kazakhstan may merge its $23 billion state pension fund with the $57 billion oil fund in order to streamline their management, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Monday. The oil-rich Central Asian nation hires foreigners to manage most of its oil fund assets and the addition of the pension fund could create more opportunities to expand. “Norway has good experience, they have merged their pension fund with their national (oil) fund, similar to the one we have,” Nazarbayev said on state television. Read...

December 26, 2017
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22Dec

New laws proposed by UK government on bulk transfers of pension rights

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) opened a consultation on the proposed new Contracting-out (Transfer and Transfer Payment) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (16-page / 263KB PDF) on Thursday. It is the DWP's intention that the new rules would take effect from 6 April 2018. "These amendments will enable any salary-related occupational pensions right (active, deferred and pensioner) to be transferred to newly established schemes (that have never been contracted out) without member consent under specified conditions," the DWP said. "These conditions will be that...

December 22, 2017
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22Dec

Spain. CaixaBank Buys Banco BPI’s Card Business

Portugal's Banco BPI S/A (BPI.LB) will sell its card and point-of-sale activities to entities associated with CaixaBank SA (CABK.MC) for a total of 113 million euros ($134.1 million), the two banks said Thursday. CaixaBank SA (CABK.MC) holds a controlling stake in Banco BPI. CaixaBank Payments E.P., a wholly-owned subsidiary of CaixaBank, will acquire Banco BPI's credit and debit card-emitting activities for EUR53 million. At the same time, Comercia Global Payments E.P., a joint venture between CaixaBank and Global Payments Inc., will acquire...

December 22, 2017
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22Dec

Thousands of UK Toys R Us jobs saved after deal with pensions body

Thousands of jobs at Toys R Us have been saved after the ailing toy retailer agreed to pump more than £9m into its pension plan over the next two years in a last-minute deal with the state-backed pensions lifeboat. The Pension Protection Fund joined landlords and other creditors in backing Toys R Us’s company voluntary arrangement (CVA) plan, which involves the closure of at least 26 loss-making stores from next spring as well as reducing the size of others. Consultations...

December 22, 2017
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