October 2017

18Oct

UK. OECD tells government to scrap pensions triple lock

The UK government should reform the state pension triple lock in order to afford measures to boost weak growth, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has said. The OECD is the intergovernmental economic organisation of 35 member countries, founded in 1960 to stimulate economic progress and world trade, also recommended the UK increase national insurance contributions for self-employed workers. In its biennial survey of the UK economy released on Tuesday (17 October), the OECD said linking the state pension purely to wage inflation would "be fairer, while it...

October 18, 2017
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18Oct

Denmark. Immigrants risk pension poverty

A new report from the Danish centre of applied social science, VIVE, warns that a lot of immigrants are going to be substantially worse off when they reach the pension age compared to their Danish counterparts, reports Avisen.dk The study looked at immigrants from Turkey, Iran Pakstan and Vietnam who came to Denmark in the 1960s, 70s and 80s and are now over 60 years old. The researchers used the OECD’s definition of poverty that defines it as an income of...

October 18, 2017
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17Oct

Australia’s ANZ Sells Pension Business to IOOF for $766 Million

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd has sold its pension unit to IOOF Holdings for A$975 million ($766 million), joining the rush of Australian banks quitting non-core and scandal-hit divisions to boost capital. The deal fell short of a total exit of ANZ's insurance and wealth management operations which the bank had flagged a year earlier, and which had been expected to fetch about A$4 billion. But Atlas Funds Management chief investment officer David Hugh, who owns ANZ shares, said...

October 17, 2017
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17Oct

UK. Pearson agrees deal to insure third of pension scheme risk

Publisher Pearson said on Tuesday it had agreed a deal to insure a third of its pension scheme liabilities totalling 1.2 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) with Legal & General and Aviva. The deal “substantially reduces” the risk that Pearson would be unable to fund future retiree benefits and was agreed at no further cost to the company, it said in a nine-month trading update. Under the so-called ‘buy-in bulk annuity’, the insurers take on some of the risk of the pension...

October 17, 2017
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17Oct

Canada. It’s time to treat aging as an asset, not a burden

By now, you may be aware that Canada’s seniors recently crossed a significant threshold. Statistics Canada announced for the first time ever that people over 65 now officially outnumber children under 15. The story is similar all over the world. Historians will say one day that this global shift in demographics was one of the most important events of the 21st century. Indeed, it’s certainly a triumph of public health and modern medicine. For many, though, this shift is seen...

October 17, 2017
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17Oct

Australia. Ageing regions increasingly reliant on the pension.

Age discrimination in the workforce needs to end to combat a growing aged pension crisis in the country's oldest regions, according to the Regional Australia Institute. A RAI report has found there is lower growth, lower incomes and a higher welfare services bill in aging regions which are increasingly reliant on the pension. The report said some regions, including Victor Harbor, Port-Macquarie-Hastings and East Gippsland, already had more than 20 per cent of their populations reliant on the age pension. The 2016 census showed while...

October 17, 2017
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17Oct

Dutch pension fund invests in local wireless infrastructure provider

The Rabo Bouwfonds Communication Infrastructure Fund (CIF) has sold its stake in the Netherlands-based Open Tower Company to a local pension fund. ABP, which has €394 billion of assets under management, has acquired a 75 percent in OTC for an undisclosed sum. OTC co-founder NOVEC, another infrastructure provider, retains a 25 percent share in the company, which was founded in 2009 and has built up a portfolio of 800 towers. CIF Managing Partner Randolf Nijsse said: “Starting as a new...

October 17, 2017
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16Oct

UK. One in five FTSE 100 pension funds at risk of failure in a recession

One in five FTSE 100 ­defined benefit pension schemes would be at risk of failure if Britain entered ­another economic downturn, research reveals. In a “stressed” scenario – such as a recession – the combined pension deficits of the blue-chip index would jump by £100bn, equivalent to four years of pre-tax profits, according to a study by consultants Cardano and Lincoln Pensions. In such a scenario a fifth of FTSE 100 firms would face pension risks worth 30pc or more...

October 16, 2017
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16Oct

Pensions extended to workers in Thailand

Cambodian migrants in Thailand are to earn pension benefits as they work abroad, Labour Minister Ith Samheng has announced. Meeting workers in Thailand yesterday, Mr Samheng said the government was discussing ways to make sure that migrants get equal access to pensions when they returned home. He said that all private sector employees would be eligible to the same pension benefits as civil servants from 2019. The Ministry of Labour is now in talks with the Thai government over how to...

October 16, 2017
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16Oct

Canadian Pension Plan to invest up to US$500 million on data centres

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is investing up to US$350 million in data centres with Singapore’s Alpha Data Centre Fund (ADCF), with the option to invest another $150 million. CPPIB, the investment manager of Canada’s biggest pension plan, is teaming up with Singapore-based Alpha Investment Partners and data centre operator Keppel Data Centre Holdings (Keppel Data Centre) – both part of the city state’s Keppel Group – in the deal. The ADCF was launched in July 2016 by Alpha...

October 16, 2017
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