November 2017

09Nov

Denmark. World’s Top-Ranked Pension Funds Are Hoarding Riskier Assets

Denmark’s $530 billion pension industry is accumulating risk at an ever faster pace in an effort to maintain the world’s best-funded life insurance market. The trend is upending initial public offerings and taking large chunks of listed companies out of circulation. It’s also adding vulnerabilities to Denmark’s economic backbone that the financial regulator says are underestimated. The Voices Allan Polack, the chief executive officer of PFA, which manages about $100 billion in assets, says the Danish regulator is “right to be...

November 9, 2017
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09Nov

US. N.Y. Pension Fund Manager Charged With Taking Bribes Pleads Guilty

A former portfolio manager at New York state’s retirement fund pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy on Wednesday after U.S. prosecutors accused him of steering more than $3 billion in trades to two brokerages in exchange for bribes that included vacations, cocaine and prostitutes. Navnoor Kang, 37, former director of fixed income and head of portfolio strategy at the New York State Common Retirement Fund, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken in Manhattan federal court, according...

November 9, 2017
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09Nov

Prudential, PIC Reach $1.2 Billion Longevity Reinsurance Agreement

Prudential Retirement, a unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU), and Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), have entered into their fifth longevity reinsurance transaction since 2015. In the agreement, The Prudential Insurance Company of America assumes the longevity risk for $1.2 billion (about £900 million) in pension liabilities, covering approximately 4,000 pensioners across four pension schemes. The transaction highlights the rebounding demand for pension de-risking solutions in the U.K., and the desire of many U.K. pension insurers to manage their risks and...

November 9, 2017
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08Nov

Brazil central banker urges pension overhaul to avoid market turmoil

Brazil's congress needs to reform the country's pension system while global markets are favorable or risks facing more volatility, central bank chief Ilan Goldfajn said on Tuesday during an event in Uruguay. "We don't have until the end of times to do what must be done," Goldfajn said during a panel with fellow central bank presidents from Latin America. Talks resumed last month after the lower house voted to reject a criminal charge against President Michel Temer. But pessimism over...

November 8, 2017
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08Nov

US. Educators present ‘Shared Responsibility’ pension plan in Frankfort

Barren County Schools Superintendent Bo Matthews traveled to Frankfort on Monday with other educational leaders for a joint press conference at Woodford County High School to present an alternative pension plan – called the Shared Responsibility Plan – to the one presented by the office of Gov. Matt Bevin, according to an email from Matthews to media outlets. According to a press release from the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents (KASS), the Shared Responsibility Plan is “designed to address challenges...

November 8, 2017
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07Nov

Canada. NDP MP proposes changes to insolvency laws to improve pension protections

An Ontario backbench member of Parliament tabled a bill Monday to amend Canada's insolvency laws so they offer more protections to pension plans, post-retirement benefits and severance when a company is in deep financial trouble. The treatment of pensions during court-supervised restructurings has been a long-simmering issue but has attracted new attention since Sears Canada sought protection under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act in July. In addition to ending post-retirement health benefits and severance payments immediately, Sears Canada's collapse meant future...

November 7, 2017
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06Nov

China’s pensioners to get customised mutual-fund products for stock investment

China’s pensioners will have a new channel to invest in the nation’s US$7.7 trillion stock market, as the securities regulator outlines requirements for asset allocations and holding periods for a new type of mutual fund serving retirees. Such funds should adopt a strategy of “stable asset allocations” and pursue a “long-term increase in asset values”, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a guideline published on its website, inviting public feedback. The new, customised funds can invest in fund-of-funds...

November 6, 2017
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06Nov

Namibia. Pension funds trustees challenged to enhance skills

Finance minister Calle Schlettwein on Friday said he understands that the skills and knowledge levels of trustees of retirement funds are inadequate. He said this in a statement read on his behalf by his executive assistant, Esau Mbako, at the launch of a book titled: “The manual on Namibian retirement funds and social security” by Manfred Zamuee. Schlettwein said the shortage of skills and knowledge of trustees of retirement funds needs intervention to empower them to understand their duties and...

November 6, 2017
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06Nov

IoM pension firm launches cryptocurrency services

Isle of Man-based corporate and pension service provider Optimus is to offer crypto-currency, block chain and Initial Coin Offering (ICO) services. Kerry Jones, senior manager responsible for leading Optimus’ fintech operations said the move was “not a wholesale change of direction but a logical extension of what we’ve been doing for years”. Optimus, which also has offices in Malta, said the IoM was the “fintech centre of choice” for digital currencies, ICOs and development of blockchain applications. Read more @International Adviser

November 6, 2017
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03Nov

Yield-Starved U.K. Pension Funds Jump on Private Debt Bandwagon

A newly created credit fund carved out jointly by two U.K. local government pension authorities plans to earmark almost half of its assets for investments in direct lending. The Local Pensions Partnership, formed by pooling the funds of local government retirement funds in London and Lancashire County, will plow approximately 45 percent of its 1.3 billion pound ($1.7 billion) capital into direct lending, according to a person familiar with the matter, who is not authorized to speak publicly and asked...

November 3, 2017
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