March 2022
10Mar

South Africa. GEPF will grant a 5.5% increase to its pensioners

The Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) has announced that its pensioners will receive an annual pension increase of 5.5% from April 1, 2022. Read also Saving for Retirement by Kenya’s Informal Sector According to the fund, it instituted the increase to enable its beneficiaries to keep up with rising inflationary rates. Read also India. Labour Ministry launches ‘Donate-a-Pension’ initiative: Check details “This pension increase is based on the 5.5% inflation rate for the 12 months ending 30 November 2021, thus making the increase...

March 10, 2022
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09Mar

These are the world’s largest pension funds

The COVID-19 pandemic may have disrupted markets across the world, but a new report reveals that pension fund assets rose vigorously in 2020. According to the annual joint study from Thinking Ahead Institute and Pensions & Investments, assets under management (AUM) of the world’s top 300 pension funds grew by 11.5% in 2020, a 3.5% increase from 2019. Additionally, the top 20 pension funds made up 41.8% of 2020′s total AUM, up 1.1% from the previous year. The study reports that...

March 9, 2022
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09Mar

UK. Pension Protection Fund pulls out of Russia

The Pension Protection Fund will eliminate its negligible exposure to Russian assets when liquidity in the market improves, it has announced. Pension schemes have raced to freeze investments and divest from Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February, drawing international condemnation and widespread boycotts. Schemes, for the time being, appear limited to stating an intention to move out of Russia, given a complete lack of liquidity in Russian assets. The Moscow Stock Exchange closed on February 28, while the Russian government has...

March 9, 2022
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09Mar

Russia. Putin signs law allowing government to quickly raise pensions – RIA

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing his government to quickly raise pensions, part of a set of anti-crisis measures after Russia was hit by a wave of economic sanctions over Ukraine, the RIA news agency reported on Tuesday. Read also UK. Pension Protection Fund pulls out of Russia Read also UK pension funding levels prove resilient in February despite the crisis in Ukraine Another new initiative signed into law by Putin gave individuals and small- and medium-sized businesses the...

March 9, 2022
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09Mar

US. This Is The Best Kept Secret In Retirement Planning & It’s About To Make Retirement More Expensive & Complicated

Looking past the gas pump to me on the other side, a 60-something year old woman states, “I waited a long time for this.” Jiggling the nozzle out from my tank, “What’s that?” I ask. She replies blandly, “Retirement.” Continuing, as if speaking to a larger invisible audience, she points up to the pump price sign and shakes her head saying, “With these prices, I just don’t know.” Fuel prices, and transportation costs generally, are on the rise for all of us....

March 9, 2022
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09Mar

UK pension funds increasingly look into impact investing

UK pension schemes seem to be taking impact investing increasingly into consideration, more specifically social infrastructure and affordable housing. According to a survey conducted by Pensions for Purpose and sponsored by Big Society Capital researching UK pension funds with total assets under management of around £150bn (€180bn), more than 50% of schemes hold some form of impact investment which focuses on positive social or environmental outcomes as well as financial returns. It also shows that 90% of respondents are looking to...

March 9, 2022
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08Mar

U.K. pension regulator calls for vigilance over Russia risks

U.K. pension fund trustees should be "vigilant" about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine and resulting sanctions might affect them, The Pensions Regulator cautioned in a March 4 guidance. TPR recognized that some trustees and their advisers have already been reviewing their exposure risks, and set expectations for those reviews. "We expect you to be vigilant and talk to your advisers about any action which you may need to take, depending on your scheme's investment, risk management or employer covenant exposures,"...

March 8, 2022
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08Mar

Why women’s pensions need more attention to reach equality

By Helen Morrissey International Women’s Day asks us to imagine a world free of bias and look towards a more equitable future. Equal pay and financial prospects are integral to this but remain an area where women continue to struggle as they remain significantly lower paid than men. This issue affects women throughout their working lives and leaves them retiring with a total pension income that is on average a whopping 37.9 per cent less than men. This is more than...

March 8, 2022
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US. Funding ratio of ‘$20 billion club' rises to 93.8% in 2021
08Mar

US. Funding ratio of ‘$20 billion club’ rises to 93.8% in 2021

The average funding ratio of 19 U.S. publicly listed corporations with more than $20 billion in global pension fund liabilities totaled 93.8% at the end of 2021, up from 86.2% at the start of the year, according to a report from Russell Investments. The impressive increase in the average funding ratio for the "$20 billion club" was attributed primarily to an increase in the discount rate of about 35 basis points, said the report released Monday. Positive investment returns also contributed...

March 8, 2022
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Labour Ministry launches ‘Donate-a-Pension’ initiative: Check details
08Mar

India. Labour Ministry launches ‘Donate-a-Pension’ initiative: Check details

Union Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav launched the 'Donate-a-Pension' program under Pradhan Mantri Shram on Monday. This move is to make the process of creating and contributing to a pension fund for support staff easier. Union Labour and Employment Minister, Bhupendra Yadav tweet, “Launched ‘Donate-a-Pension’ programme at my residence by donating to the gardener. It is an initiative under (PM-SYM) pension scheme where citizens can donate the premium contribution of their immediate support staff such as domestic workers, drivers,...

March 8, 2022
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