July 2021
21Jul

Nigeria’s pension penetration level low, says PenOp

Nigeria should deepened its penetration beyond 11 per cent, the President, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOP), Mr Wale Odutola, has said. Odutola spoke at the just-concluded National Assembly retreat in Lagos. He stated that there was the need to note the areas where the industry lags behind other countries, one of which is level of pension penetration. He said this became necessary because South Africa’s pension penetration is 19 per cent, Kenya 20 per cent and United Kingdom 77...

July 21, 2021
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21Jul

Austrian sustainable funds see record rise in AUM to €22.4bn

Assets under management (AUM) for Austrian sustainability-driven investment funds rose by 29% to €22.4bn in the first half of this year, up from €17.3bn in 2020, according to figures published last week by the Vienna-based investment companies association VÖIG. The number of sustainable funds on the market grew from 96 in 2020 to 106 in the first half of this year, figures show. Last year the Fachverband der Pensionskassen, Austria’s occupational pension fund association, floated the idea of a “green supplementary...

July 21, 2021
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20Jul

U.K. releases proposals for collective defined contribution plans

The U.K. Department of Work and Pensions is seeking views from trustees and plan sponsors on its draft collective defined contribution plan regulation published Monday. The proposal follows the U.K. Pension Schemes Act 2021, which permitted employers for the first time to launch collective DC plans, also referred to as collective money purchase plans. In a CDC plan, income is secured by pooling plan participants' assets and investments, and participants bear the longevity and investment risk. That is in contrast to...

July 20, 2021
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20Jul

Danish pension firms censured for failure to ID money-laundering risks

Six Danish pension providers have been ordered to revise their risk assessments regarding money laundering, after the country’s financial watchdog followed through on a tightening of the regulations at the end of last year. AP Pension was given several official orders to correct procedures, while others, such as Danica Pension and PenSam, got away more lightly following a series of inspections conducted by the Danish FSA. The FSA said it had conducted an investigation into the risk assessments of life insurance...

July 20, 2021
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20Jul

Australia. Spend your money before you die, Treasury urges retirees

The Morrison government wants retirees to draw down their superannuation balances before they die, and has asked super funds to develop a strategy to make it easier for members to take money out of their super in retirement. The Commonwealth Treasury released a position paper on Monday canvassing the need for superannuation trustees to develop strategies that would encourage people to draw down their full super balances in retirement. The strategy, which would be in place from July 1, 2022, comes...

July 20, 2021
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19Jul

Spain inches ahead with pension reform

Spain will pay workers to postpone retirement as part of a pensions reform strategy that analysts warn does not go far enough to cut a huge deficit in the system. With nearly 30 billion euros ($36 billion) of annual losses in 2020 and rising, Spain's social security budget is one of the biggest contributors to the country's ballooning public deficit. The European Commission has long demanded that Spain reform its pension system and has made it a condition for accessing European...

July 19, 2021
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19Jul

India. PFRDA, government in talks to tweak law to cover retirement funds

The government and the Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) are discussing amendments to the law to ensure the regulation of a large number of superannuation funds that currently escape the required scrutiny Although there are no official estimates, around 400-500 are seen to be “unregulated” superannuation funds, with 50-60 being large players. There are at least three regulators for the pension business, with PFRDA handling the National Pension System (NPS), while the insurance regulator deals with annuities sold...

July 19, 2021
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19Jul

Fewer women than men will regain employment during the COVID-19 recovery says ILO

The inequalities between women and men in the world of work that have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic will persist in the near future, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). A new policy brief finds there will be 13 million fewer women in employment in 2021 compared to 2019, while men’s employment will have recovered to 2019 levels. Even though the projected jobs growth in 2021 for women exceeds that of men, it will, nonetheless, be insufficient to...

July 19, 2021
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19Jul

UK. The state pension is slated to rise by 8%, but thousands of retirees will be left out.

State pension payments may increase by 8% next year, but some retirees will be excluded from the increase. Individuals who have achieved state pension age might receive considerable financial assistance through state pension payments. Many people will have contributed a significant amount of money to the National Insurance system over the course of their lives in order to receive the largest state pension feasible. To help, the government uses a triple lock system that increases the state pension total by...

July 19, 2021
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16Jul

Is there really an ESG bubble?

Environmental, social and governance-focused investment is on the upswing like no other investment trend. In the first half of 2021, of 80 exchange-traded funds and mutual fund launches in the UK, 37 were ESG vehicles. Of these, 19 were equity funds, 16 mixed assets, and one each for bond and alternatives (chart 1). Bonds showed rather better last year with 12 launches, but whatever the year, equity launches dominate. This compares with 207 launches in 2020, of which 59 were ESG,...

July 16, 2021
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