July 2017

12Jul

US. Pensions prove popular: Auto-enrolment take-up has smashed government expectations

The workplace pension has proved more popular than the government imagined, according to statistics revealed today by the Pensions Regulator (TPR). More than 8m people have signed up for a workplace pension since auto-enrolment was launched in 2012. With hundreds of thousands more employees set to enrol in the coming months, the total number will ultimately beat the expectation of 8m people in total set out five years ago. This ambitious agenda of helping workers save for retirement would not have...

July 12, 2017
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12Jul

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Vermilion Energy Inc. Announce Strategic Partnership in Corrib

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPPIB") and Vermilion Energy Inc. ("Vermilion") (TSX:VET)(NYSE:VET) are pleased to announce a strategic partnership in the Corrib Natural Gas Field in Ireland ("Corrib"), whereby CPPIB will acquire Shell Exploration Company B.V.'s ("Shell") 45% interest in the project, with Vermilion operating the assets after completion of the acquisition. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, CPP Investment Board Europe S.a.r.l., CPPIB has entered into a definitive purchase and sale agreement with Shell, to acquire 100% of Shell...

July 12, 2017
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12Jul

UK financial watchdog concerned about what people are doing with their pension savings

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has flagged concerns about the way in which people are using their pensions since the introduction of landmark rules around retirement savings in 2015. The FCA on Wednesday said that it had identified several issues, particularly relating to advice and competition. A more extensive report is due next year. Under rules introduced in 2015, savers are able to access their retirement savings without having to buy an annuity, or income for life. The FCA said that...

July 12, 2017
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11Jul

UK’s BMW Workers Accept New Pensions Deal, Ending Dispute

British workers at BMW's Mini and Rolls-Royce operations have overwhelmingly accepted a new offer from the German carmaker on Monday over the closure of its final salary pension scheme, ending a disagreement which had led to strikes. Over 80 percent of members at four sites, including BMW's Mini plant and Rolls-Royce facility in southern England and engine production site, accepted the new deal which will close the final salary scheme, Britain's biggest union Unite said. Members were offered greater flexibility regarding...

July 11, 2017
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11Jul

Pension funds ask U.S. regulators to expand companies’ workforce disclosures

A coalition that includes some of the largest U.S. pension funds want federal regulators to force big banks and other public companies to disclose details on how they manage, compensate and incentivize their employees. In a rulemaking petition seen by Reuters, a coalition of 25 institutional investors including the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) has called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to craft regulations requiring public companies to provide...

July 11, 2017
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11Jul

243 Million Reasons For A New Pan-European Personal Pension Product

It is estimated that only around 28% of the EU’s 243 million citizens aged 25 to 59 years are currently saving into a pension. The European Commission considers that offering an alternative form of pensions vehicle will drive a change in behaviour. To this end, on 29 June, the European Commission proposed Regulations setting out a framework for a bold new pan-European personal pension product (PEPP). This emerges as part of the EU’s 2015 Action Plan on Building a...

July 11, 2017
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11Jul

Canada’s OPTrust Fund Forced to Take Risks to Shore Up Returns

Frustrated by poor returns, OPTrust Chief Executive Officer Hugh O’Reilly is moving into riskier investments as contributors to the retirement pot age. “We can’t just match cash flows, we have to take risks,” O’Reilly, whose company oversees $19.2 billion of investments for Ontario government workers, said in an interview. “We don’t want to increase contributions or reduce future benefit accruals where the active members will bear the whole risk.” OPTrust is starting a C$300 million ($233 million) venture-capital portfolio and is...

July 11, 2017
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10Jul

Ireland. Pension provision: exposing a two-tier and unequal system

A glaring anomaly in the way the cost of pensions is calculated in the public and private sectors has been revealed in a new study. It is further evidence of the need to put workers in both sectors on a more even footing when it comes to pension provision. The study by the Association of Pension Trustees of Ireland shows private sector workers and their employers would have to spend millions of euro to earn the kind of retirement benefits...

July 10, 2017
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10Jul

UK. Third of DB pension schemes could fail to pay members

It reveals that just one in five schemes have a high chance of being able to deliver on agreements in full, while the same amount have a 66% chance of failing. In addition, it was found that the typical scheme has already extended recovery plans beyond the average period of eight years, suffering a significantly higher risk of failure as a result. “Since the introduction of the Pension Protection Fund in 2005, more than 10% of DB schemes have failed to...

July 10, 2017
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10Jul

Ireland. Mandatory retirement age may be abolished

The Citizens’ Assembly is to tell the Government to abolish mandatory retirement ages, eliminate the time gap between retirement and eligibility for the old age pension, and to link that pension to average earnings, writes Caroline O’Doherty. The recommendations follow a weekend of hearings at which the assembly discussed a wide range of issues to do with income, work, and pensions for older people. Sixteen proposed recommendations were voted on and will form the basis for a detailed report to be...

July 10, 2017
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