March 2021

US. Single-Employer Plans Can Lower Target Returns to 4% and 5%

What can corporate allocators expect now that the pension relief bill has passed? For starters, they can target lower returns and pursue less risky investment strategies. Plan sponsors at single-employer pension plans can reduce their return targets to as low as 4% or 5%, versus higher targets of 6% or 7%, when they extend their amortization periods to 15 years as a result of the stimulus bill, according to calculations from asset manager Insight Investment. Earlier this month, several provisions passed...

New Zealand. Investment or speculation: KiwiSaver fund enters the bitcoin era

NZ Funds Management’s KiwiSaver growth fund has invested in bitcoin, and chief investment officer James Grigor​ expects that within five years it will feature in more KiwiSaver schemes. Read also Cryptocurrency called next great investing opportunity The KiwiSaver provider changed its offer documents in October to allow it to invest in cryptocurrencies for the first time. Grigor said bitcoin had become a commodity, with many of the attractive hallmarks of gold, which investors often bought as a store of value in times...

Swiss pension fund posts $500m decarbonisation mandate on IPE Quest

An unnamed Swiss pension fund is looking for a global equity solution aligned with EU climate benchmark requirements for a $500m (€423m) mandate, according to a new search on IPE Quest. The fund said it is looking to decarbonise its global passive equity exposure with a rule-based carbon and ESG-optimised solution. According to search QN-2686, the solution should match the EU Climate Transition Benchmark (CTB) requirements. The investor specified that it wants minimal regional, sector and style deviation from the index,...

Opportunities for Stronger and Sustainable Postpandemic Growth 2021 Latin American and Caribbean Macroeconomic Report

By Eduardo Cavallo, Andrew Powell The COVID-19 shock was a significant and traumatic crisis for Latin America and the Caribbean. The pandemic dealt the region what I previously described as an unprecedented triple sudden stop, with major simultaneous disruptions in human mobility, trade, and capital flows. This was immensely dangerous. As human mobility was paralyzed by lockdowns and fear of contagion, investments fell, and trade was upended, the triple sudden stop challenged the region like few things in the past....

Managing the Employment Impacts of the COVID-19 Crisis: Policy Options for Relief and Restructuring

By Eliana Carranza, Thomas Farole, Ugo Gentilini, Matteo Morgandi, Truman Packard, Indhira Santos, and Michael Weber This note discusses policy options for managing the employment impacts of the COVID-19 crisis aimed at relief and restructuring. The relief phase corresponds to an initial COVID-19 phase when the health emergency dominates, lockdowns are common, and the focus is on saving lives, providing support to workers and households to manage the income shock and to firms to say afloat and, often retain workers;...

Do public pensions matter to marriage? Evidence from China

By Hua Chen, Zining Liu, Xiaoxu Yang This article examines the role of public pensions on the marriage market based on China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Firstly, we investigate if the extensive margin of public pensions, i.e., whether to participate in public pensions or not, has a significant effect through Difference-in-Difference (DID). The results indicate that public pensions have a significant effect on marriage for both urban and rural residents, and the gender and income heterogeneity of the...

How Much Taxes Will Retirees Owe on Their Retirement Income?

By Anqi Chen, Alicia H. Munnell To evaluate their retirement resources, households approaching retirement will examine their Social Security statements, defined benefit pensions, defined contribution balances, and other financial assets. However, many households may forget that not all of these resources belong to them; they will need to pay some portion to federal and state government in taxes. It is unclear, however, just how large the tax burden is for the typical retired household and for households with different income...

Chile. Diputados presentan sexto proyecto para un tercer retiro del 10%

Un grupo de parlamentarios de oposición presentó una reforma constitucional para permitir un tercer retiro de fondos de pensiones. La normativa ingresada es la sexta que va en la misma línea, para un tercer retiro del 10 por ciento de las AFP, aunque esta vez se trata de una modificación que busca evitar el Tribunal Constitucional (TC). La reforma constitucional propone modificar el primer proyecto que fue aprobado por el Congreso a mediados del 2020, cambiando las palabras “excepcionalmente” y...

Incremento a pensiones debe ser de la mano de una reforma fiscal

Cualquier asunto pensionario que no venga acompañado del tema hacendario para poder entender cuál será la fuente de ingresos para subsidiar las pensión universal de adultos mayores es una irresponsabilidad, comentó Enrique Díaz Infante, especialista en seguridad social y sector financiero del Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias (CEEY). El especialista, aseguró que sin una reforma fiscal no existirá otra opción más que pasar la tijera al presupuesto en salud, educación o infraestructura como ya ha sucedido en este gobierno encabezado...

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...