March 2021
25Mar

Nigeria. Workers withdrew N1.01bn pension savings in Q4 2020 –PenCom

The Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) witnessed the withdrawal of N1.01 billion by 924 workers from the voluntary contributions in their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) with their Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) in the fourth quarter of 2020. Read also Pensions savings can fund Africa eco-plans The National Pension Commission (PenCom), disclosed this in its 2020 fourth quarter report. Read also Chile begins debate on third pension withdrawal amid second wave of the pandemic According to the guidelines on voluntary contribution under the CPS, PenCom...

March 25, 2021
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25Mar

Fully funded U.S. public pensions not necessary to ensure benefits -study

Most U.S. state and local government pension systems are not facing imminent crisis and do not need to achieve full funding to ensure benefits are paid to retired workers, according to a paper released on Wednesday by the nonprofit public policy Brookings Institution. Retirement plans for state and local government workers have nearly $5 trillion in assets, but would need an additional $4 trillion to meet all of their obligations to current and future retirees, according to the paper. Concerns over...

March 25, 2021
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25Mar

Pensions savings can fund Africa eco-plans

According to the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the fastest-growing and largest category of impact investing assets under management by investment source is from pension funds and insurance companies. Pension funds that are putting money in impact investing are from the developed world and very little is happening in terms of the investments of the African pension funds. In many places, pension funds are riding on DFIs and other fund managers to make investments especially in developing countries including Africa....

March 25, 2021
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24Mar

US. 82% say Covid affected their retirement plans

A year after the Covid-19 pandemic first ravaged the world’s societies and economies, more than 80% of Americans say the events of the past year have affected their retirement plans, according to a new study from Fidelity Investments. One-third of the more than 1,200 financial decision-makers Fidelity surveyed said it would take them two to three years to get back on track due to factors such as job loss or withdrawals from retirement savings, according to Fidelity’s 2021 State of...

March 24, 2021
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24Mar

Cryptocurrency called next great investing opportunity

Cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds are coming to America. While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to weigh in on the March 1 filing from Cboe BZX Exchange to approve listing and trading of the VanEck Bitcoin Trust, the weight of the water behind the regulatory dam appears so great at this point that le deluge is inevitable. Even with cryptocurrency exchange-traded products already available in Europe and Canada, a U.S.-listed product could send a shock wave through the investing world. "It...

March 24, 2021
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24Mar

Australia. Pensions Giant Says Treasury Yields at 3% Will Change Everything

If there’s one core view at the heart of the investment strategy at Australia’s biggest pension fund, it’s that yields still have a long way to rise. The exodus from Treasuries will continue until 10-year yields top out at 3% or so, which would be high enough to imperil economic growth and force the Federal Reserve to respond, according to Carl Astorri, head of asset allocation at AustralianSuper Pty., which manages A$210 billion ($161 billion). He has been further trimming...

March 24, 2021
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24Mar

Exclusive Coverage: CIOs Assess How Pension Fund Investors Can Be Successful After COVID-19

Strong governance, flexibility over benefit structures, clever investment strategies, and maintaining savvy relations with investment trustees are among the best practices that can help pension funds do well in the post-pandemic era. A panel of four allocators and consultants discussed solutions in CIO’s virtual conference “Inside the Minds of CIOs.” Speakers included pension investment chiefs from Maryland and New Mexico, as well as leaders from Backstop Solutions and Insight Investment. Public pensions face any number of challenges to deliver good returns....

March 24, 2021
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24Mar

Sweden wants to tax pensioners in Portugal

Swedish Parliament is set to vote on unilaterally ending an agreement with Portugal to not tax citizens receiving their pensioners here Following in the footsteps of Finland in 2018, Stockholm now also wants to see its expat pensioners in Portugal taxed as they would be in their home countries. Portugal recently changed its non-habitual resident regime to enforce a blanket ten percent tax on foreign pensions, but Sweden argues this is inadequate and not in accordance with an agreement signed with...

March 24, 2021
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23Mar

ESG Disclosure Rules From Europe Challenge U.S. Fund Managers

Scores of U.S. fund managers are being forced to comply with sweeping new European rules on climate and other sustainable-finance issues, requiring them to disclose the potential harm their investments could do to the environment and society. Fund companies including Vanguard Group, BlackRock Inc. and State Street Corp. that sell investment products in the European Union come under the new rules that took effect this month, though details are still being finalized. “There are many issues to be resolved, it is...

March 23, 2021
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23Mar

UK. Pensions dashboard roll-out in 2023 ‘under threat’

The target date of 2023 for the roll-out of the pensions dashboards is under threat from a lack of clarity, the Society of Pension Professionals has warned. The lack of clarity and complexity of the dashboard roll-out is such that it might be impossible to provide some savers with a "single number" for their benefits. Read also UK. Emerging passive investing risks a new concern James Riley, president, and Paul McGlone, immediate past president, wrote to the Pensions Dashboards Programme detailing a list...

March 23, 2021
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