August 2018

23Aug

International Labor Organization Urges Stronger Social Protections in Latin America

“When the economy is doing well, social protection systems work better, they develop, more people are covered. But when crises hit, spending cuts must be made and social protections are affected,” the ILO’s director for the Southern Cone, Fabio Bertranou, told reporters in Buenos Aires. Applying counter-cyclical fiscal policies to face economic fluctuations is one of the recommendations made in the ILO’s report “Present and future of social protection in Latin America and the Caribbean,” which was presented Wednesday by...

August 23, 2018
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22Aug

US. Workers want employers to help more with retirement planning

Many employers appear to be missing the mark when it comes to helping workers prepare for their golden years. While just 16 percent of companies are "very confident" that their employees will be financial secure in retirement, they also often fail to offer the savings tools that their workers actually want, a new study from the nonprofit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies shows. "There's a basic disconnect related to worker expectations," said Catherine Collison, president and CEO of the center and...

August 22, 2018
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22Aug

UK. Ian McKenna: We must pull pensions dashboard back from brink of demise

Suggestions that secretary of state for work and pensions Esther McVey may no longer be committed to the delivery of the pensions dashboard project has caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth around the industry. Personally, I do not see the problem. This is the perfect opportunity for it to take back ownership and control of the project. The current scope is so unwieldy while also being so constricted in its distribution (only to be available via the new single guidance...

August 22, 2018
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22Aug

Japan. The World’s Biggest Pension Fund Needs U.S. Bull Run to Last

The world’s biggest pension fund, always a giant within its home country of Japan, has been expanding its reach in other stock markets -- and becoming increasingly dependent on a U.S. bull run that’s poised to be the longest in history. The $1.4 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund has doubled its foreign shares since a strategy overhaul in 2014, and is now a top 10 holder in more than 260 companies outside Japan, according to a Bloomberg analysis of GPIF’s...

August 22, 2018
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22Aug

South Africa Labor Unions Push for New State Pension-Manager Law

South Africa’s main labor group is pushing parliament to adopt proposed changes to laws regulating the continent’s biggest money manager, which oversees state workers’ pensions, to make it more accountable and give unions representation on its board. Parliament’s finance committee is processing the Public Investment Corp. Amendment Bill, but the Congress of South African Trade Unions fears the state’s decision to appoint a commission to investigate the fund manager’s governance and operating model could derail its adoption. The commission will...

August 22, 2018
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22Aug

Ireland. New compulsory pension scheme capped at €75,000

Private sector workers earning more than €20,000 a year will be automatically enrolled in the new scheme, which will see the Government contribute €1 for every €3 put into a State-run pension fund. Workers will not be able to opt out of the system for at least nine months. Employees earning more than €75,000 can contribute to the scheme but they will not be able to put any earnings above the salary cap into their pension pots. Workers earning less than €20,000...

August 22, 2018
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21Aug

Three behavioural barriers to solid retirement planning, and how you can overcome them

I read with great interest a recently released Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) report entitled Encouraging Retirement Planning through Behavioural Insights. It provides strategies for governments, employers, financial advisers and those planning for retirement to implement to make it easier to become financially independent. Behavioural finance has risen to prominence recently, in part because of the work of “nudge” economist Richard Thaler, who won the Nobel Prize last year for his pioneering work in the field of behavioural economics. There can...

August 21, 2018
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21Aug

LGBTQ Investors Need to Consider Longevity, Liquidity, and Legacy

Around the world, LGBTQ couples’ legal and financial rights vary depending on where they live. While their equal rights are legally enshrined in Switzerland and the U.K., they aren’t recognized or protected in Singapore and Hong Kong. In the U.S., rights vary from state to state. Yet, even in countries where the LGBTQ community has full equal rights, they still face special challenges when it comes to financial planning, according to a UBS report released Monday. One key factor that affects...

August 21, 2018
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21Aug

Nigeria. Pension: Over 37.3m adults face risk of old age poverty

Over 37.3 million adults in the informal sector face the risk of old age poverty, as the informal sector workers are isolated from the formal pension arrangements. Chairman of Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, PenOp, Ronke Adedeji, who disclosed this said that 18.4 million adults which represent 19.1 percent of the total adult population, have farming as their main source of income  while 18.9 million adults which represent 19.6 percent of the total adult population get their income...

August 21, 2018
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20Aug

UK. An ageing population is posing problems that Britain cannot ignore

A report last week from the Office for National Statistics projected that by 2066 a quarter of the UK population would be aged 65 or over. Whereas in 2016 there were 1.6 million people (or 2 per cent of the population) aged 85 or over, by 2066 the number is projected to rise to more than five million (or 7 per cent). The ageing of society is happening in every region of the world. Both in Britain and globally, it...

August 20, 2018
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