June 2021
25Jun

US. American Express boosts auto-enrollment contribution rate to 6% for 401(k) plan

American Express Co., New York, is increasing the amount of automatic enrollment for participants in its 401(k) plan to a before-tax contribution of 6% of total pay, effective Jan. 1, 2022. The company will continue its current policy of an automatic escalation rate of 1% each year until the employee contribution hits 10% of pay, it disclosed in an 11-K filing Wednesday with the SEC. Currently, eligible employees are automatically enrolled to make before-tax contributions of 3% of total pay. The company's...

June 25, 2021
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25Jun

German fintech rivals Deposit Solutions and Raisin merge to form Raisin DS – a European champion with global ambitions

The two German FinTech giants Deposit Solutions and Raisin have just announced the completion of their merger. After over a year of preparation, the two companies are forming Raisin DS, a pioneer in the savings and investment market, servicing banks and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. Founded in 2011, Deposit Solutions is the leading B2B Open Banking platform in the savings deposit space. The Hamburg-based company operates deposit marketplaces for over 150 partners, including large institutions such as...

June 25, 2021
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25Jun

US. Secure Act 2.0 Is Popular, but Not Perfect, Retirement Experts Say

The Secure Act 2.0 provides important benefits to help boost Americans’ retirement savings, but the huge retirement bill does have drawbacks, retirement experts told House lawmakers. Secure Act 2.0 — officially, the Securing a Strong Retirement Act — was part of a review of the nation’s retirement system during a hearing held Wednesday by the House Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee. On May 5, the House Ways and Means Committee passed the Secure Act 2.0, which raises the required minimum...

June 25, 2021
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24Jun

Kuwait’s $134 Billion Pension Fund Has Record Gain in Turnaround

Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security had its best ever annual performance, emerging as a new regional investment powerhouse despite political deadlock in the country. The $134 billion pension fund, which owns a quarter of U.S. private equity firm Stone Point Capital LLC, recorded 20.9% growth in assets in the year ended March 31, according to a statement on Wednesday. A new management team was brought into the fund in 2017 to transform the state-owned institution after its former head was...

June 24, 2021
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24Jun

These public pension systems used to have too much money. Now they’re in crisis. What happened?

In 2001, some of the country’s biggest public pension systems were flush. The plan serving Kentucky state workers, for example, was 125.8% funded, meaning it had 25.8% more money on hand to pay all of what it owed current retirees and workers expected to retire for the next 30 years. But not even two decades later, Kentucky’s pensions, and some other previously over-funded plans, were in crisis. What happened? In Kentucky, lawmakers approved extra benefits for plan participants — even making them...

June 24, 2021
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24Jun

US. Pandemic Magnifies Demand for Retirement Income

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased demand among retirees for retirement income solutions, according to BlackRock’s annual “DC Pulse” survey, which also found that nearly half of defined contribution (DC) plan participants’ finances were negatively impacted by the pandemic. “Workers saving for retirement today are concerned that they are going to outlive their savings, or that they may not enjoy the same kind of comfortable retirement previous generations did,” the report stated. “Plan participants, plan sponsors, and retirees alike all emerge...

June 24, 2021
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24Jun

How flexible working could affect pension savings

As the UK continues to ease Covid-19 lockdown restrictions and more employees return to work, the debate about the future of work goes on. If the move to more flexible arrangements continues, the impact on retirement planning could be greater than expected. The most obvious point is that if people work fewer hours – because they choose to shift to part-time working, for example – they will almost certainly be paying less into their pension. Under the auto-enrolment pensions system,...

June 24, 2021
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24Jun

3 hurdles to sustainable investing — and how to overcome them

Can sustainable investing save the world?Jason Jay, director of the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, thinks so — with three caveats. In a March 2021 talk, part of the MIT Impact Investing Initiative spring speaker series, Jay laid out the case for sustainable investing and outlined three major challenges. Sustainable investing is at a tipping point, said the MIT Sloan senior lecturer. “What’s been happening over the last 20 years — and really accelerating over the last five years — is that...

June 24, 2021
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23Jun

East Africa’s countries race to form inclusive, affordable pension schemes for informal sector

East African Community partner states are in the process of creating micro-pension schemes for employees in the informal sector to address the low pension coverage in the region, estimated at less than 10 percent. Read also Bright Africa 2020 Pension Industry. Modernising pension policies to future-proof long-term savings A new pension sector survey by global investment firm RisCura shows that Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya are among African countries racing to create affordable and all-inclusive old-age saving schemes for the informal sector...

June 23, 2021
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23Jun

China. Rising pension levels to ensure senior citizens have no tension

Seventeen provincial-level regions in China, such as Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, and Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei and Liaoning provinces have issued notices raising local pensions. Other regions are expected to follow suit. This rise in pensions for the 17th consecutive year is in accordance with the spirit of this year's Government Work Report and a notice issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance in April on adjusting basic pensions for retirees in 2021...

June 23, 2021
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