September 2017

26Sep

Nigeria. The Senate and the risky politics of pension

There is an ongoing debate on reforming pensions, yet again, in Nigeria. Since 2004, Nigeria has largely adopted the contributory pension scheme. But as years go by, this system has continued to be gradually chipped away. One of the currently debated bills, which is making its way into an Act, seeks to amend the 2014 Pension Reform Act to exclude the following members from the contributory pension scheme: the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, the...

September 26, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
26Sep

Anxiety, depression can diminish retirement savings

Psychological distress can take a toll on more than just health. It can also significantly damage nest eggs, according to a new study by a Cornell financial economist and her co-author. Mental health problems can have a large negative effect on retirement savings, the study found. Three factors make the research even more meaningful, the authors say: People increasingly are living longer, dealing with more psychological distress, and shouldering the burden of saving for retirement without the help of employers. The...

September 26, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
25Sep

Swiss voters reject raising women’s retirement age

Swiss voters rejected raising women’s retirement age to 65 in a referendum on Sunday on shoring up the wealthy nation’s pension system as a wave of Baby Boomers stops working. Authorities pushing the first serious reform of the pension system in two decades had warned that old-age benefits were increasingly at risk as life expectancy rises and interest rates remain exceptionally low, cutting investment yields. But it fell by a margin of 53-47 percent, sending the government back to the...

September 25, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
25Sep

UK. Labour to offer some women earlier retirement option

Government changes to the retirement age have been "chaotic", shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams will tell Labour's conference later. Many women who expected to retire at 60 must now work several years longer before receiving a state pension. Ms Abrahams will say her plan would mean pension security for thousands. Her change would benefit women born between 1954 and 1960. "This will ensure that those who have suffered the consequences of this government's chaotic mismanagement of the state pension...

September 25, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
25Sep

India. A year on, still no decision on pension fund managers

On 17 September 2016, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) invited fresh bids for managing funds for the private sector National Pension System (NPS). But a year later, the authority is yet to finalise the bids and issue fresh licences to the pension fund managers (PFMs) of NPS. In the interim, the managers continue to operate through an extension. “The request for proposal for the PFMs was valid till July. However, the regulator sought an extension of...

September 25, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
22Sep

For Asia’s rapidly aging populations, innovation and forward-thinking policies drive retirement security

The quickening pace of aging in Asia -- a region with more than half the world's population over 60 -- has urgent implications for the region's families, retirees, pensions and policy makers. "Given Asia's aging populations, retirement challenges are particularly acute in the region," said Professor David Blake, director of the Pensions Institute at London's Cass Business School. "Solutions require urgent action from both businesses and individuals, and governments need to implement policies that support this action." With falling birth rates and declining death rates, Asia's societies face...

September 22, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
22Sep

Ukraine Pension Reform Changes Worry World Bank, IMF

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are concerned about amendments to pending pension reform legislation needed to unlock further funding under a $17.5 billion (£12.92 billion) IMF programme, the World Bank's Ukraine director said on Friday. A draft law to put the buckling pension system on a sustainable footing passed a first reading in parliament in July, but the bill has been modified with scores of amendments ahead of a second round of voting. "The revised draft law presented...

September 22, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
22Sep

Biggest Africa Fund Manager May See Funds Pulled by Unions

Africa’s biggest fund manager may be dumped by a labor federation representing 230,000 South African state workers because it’s concerned that the funds of its members may be used to bail out mismanaged state-owned companies. The Federation of Unions of South Africa, the country’s second-largest labor union grouping, is considering replacing the state-owned Public Investment Corp. with privately owned fund managers to oversee the pension funds of the state workers, including nurses and teachers, that it represents. “There is nothing in...

September 22, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
22Sep

Ireland. Government to introduce auto-enrolment pension scheme for all workers

Leo Varadkar used a speech to the employer's group IBEC tonight to announce the centrepiece of an upcoming national pension plan. He told the audience that two-thirds of private sector workers in Ireland have no pension, warning that the time bomb must be addressed now. “This issue has been long-fingered for too long and now that the economy is recovering strongly we must act decisively and we will publish a five year road-map for pension reform before the end of the...

September 22, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
21Sep

UK watchdog to investigate conflicts of interest among pension fund advisers

Britain's competitions watchdog will look into the advice given by consultants to pension schemes and other institutions managing over 1.6 trillion pounds ($2.2 trillion) of funds, to see if there are conflicts of interest, it said on Thursday. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will assess whether investment consultants offer a poor level of service and whether difficulties comparing and switching consultants provide little incentive for them to compete for customers. In addition, it will investigate if there are barriers to...

September 21, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...