June 2021
03Jun

US. Pension risk transfer premiums hit record low – paper

Pension risk transfer premiums are lower than ever, according to a paper from pension risk consultant BCG Penbridge. The consultant was involved in 53 PRT transactions in 2020, involving the purchase of group annuity contracts by U.S. corporate pension plans to transfer a certain number of retirees and pension liabilities to one or more insurers. Among those transactions, 42 were full plan terminations, and the average premium was 101%. Among the 11 PRT transactions that involved retiree liftouts, the average premium was...

June 3, 2021
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03Jun

BlackRock wins monumental mandate

BlackRock will be the outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) for $39.9 billion (£21.5 billion) of British Airways Pensions' assets. The mandate is for the investment management of Airways Pension Scheme (APS) and New Airways Pension Scheme (NAPS) which serve more than 85,000 members. Both APS and NAPs where previously managed by British Airways Pension Investment Management (BAPIML). The choice to externalise the investment management came from increased regulation, operational costs and investment complexity in the UK pension scheme industry. In addition, the schemes...

June 3, 2021
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03Jun

US. 401k Savings, Account Balances Grew During Pandemic

Closed restaurants and movie theaters meant more disposable income for retirement savings during the pandemic. T. Rowe Price is out with its annual Reference Point 401k benchmarking report featuring year-over-year data and analysis on participant behavior and plan design, and the results were positive, all things considered. “While the financial, physical, and emotional strains caused by the pandemic had, and will continue to have, repercussions on plan design and retirement savings outcomes, it was encouraging to see that through it all,...

June 3, 2021
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02Jun

UK. Pensions Regulator Urges Robust Liquidity Risk Analysis

Trustees of retirement saving schemes have improved their understanding of the liquidity risks facing their programs, but they should be more robust when they analyze those dangers, a director at the pensions watchdog has warned. David Fairs, an executive director at The Pensions Regulator, said that major government and central bank intervention programs around the globe in late 2020 — such as lowering interest rates — helped to stabilize markets during the coronavirus outbreak. But interventions in the future cannot...

June 2, 2021
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02Jun

Kenya’s civil service is ageing, but adjustments aren’t being made

The demographic profiles of countries like Kenya, where a high percentage of people are young, would suggest that it’s swiftly renewing its workforce with fresh talent. But this doesn’t seem to be the case. We conducted a study in a public sector organisation three years ago. We found that the bureau had an ageing workforce. More than half of its staff were 50 years old and above. The majority of employees were aged between 51 and 60. This suggests that, in...

June 2, 2021
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02Jun

Nigeria. Still on corruption in pension scheme

The recent expose by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on corruption in Cross River State, shocking as it were, is but one of the many plagues currently ravaging this country, which would explain why it barely elicited the deserved reaction from average Nigerians, as they have to deal with these situations on a daily basis. It is no longer a question of the magnitude of corrupt practices in the system, which is not in doubt, but one of who...

June 2, 2021
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02Jun

CPPIB, Phoenix Mills to Develop Retail Center in India

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is developing a shopping center in the affluent Alipore, Kolkata, neighborhood in India, as part of a new joint venture with mall operator Phoenix Mills. India is an important destination for CPPIB, the pension fund said last week. The joint venture will fund the mall with about $77 million (C$93 million), which will be invested in tranches into Mindstone Mall Developers Private. After construction is completed in the latter part of 2024, CPPIB will...

June 2, 2021
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May 2021
31May

German court rejects complaints against double taxation of pensions

Germany's federal fiscal court on Monday rejected as unfounded a retired couple's objection to their retirement benefits being double taxed. The court case resulted from a 2005 change in the law that made pensions liable to tax. Until then, pensions had been essentially tax-exempt as the contributions were made from taxed salaries. Under the 2005 law, pension contribution payments gradually became essentially tax free while the taxable share of pension income was increased in a process set to conclude by 2040. The...

May 31, 2021
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31May

Net-zero future confronts oil-rich nations

Ali Allawi, Iraq’s Finance Minister, found himself in a quandary last year as the spread of coronavirus cut demand for oil and prices tumbled. Allawi’s treasury, which receives more than 90 per cent of its revenues from crude sales and spends 45 per cent of its total budget on salaries and pensions, suddenly didn’t have enough money to pay millions of public employees and retirees. OPEC’s second-largest producer borrowed billions of dollars, mostly from local banks, to bridge the shortfall. But...

May 31, 2021
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31May

China. ‘Third pillar’ of pension cover can help aging society

Two important documents－this year's Government Work Report and the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035－put forward that the so-called third pillar of endowment insurance will develop in a well-regulated way. China entered the club of aging societies in 2000. While the total population is growing at a low speed, the elderly group has been growing at a high speed in recent years. According to the seventh national population census,...

May 31, 2021
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