March 2021

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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....

Chile. Presidenta de la Asociación de AFP propone que personas con menos ahorros puedan retirarlos al jubilar

La nueva presidenta de la Asociación de AFP, Alejandra Cox, reiteró su propuesta de moverse hacia una pensión básica universal y agregó que quienes ahorren menos fondos, deberían poder recibirlos todos al momento de su jubilación. Leer también Chile. Propuesta de la presidenta de la Asociación de AFP genera ruido en el Senado En entrevista con Radio ADN, Cox afirmó que “si tuviéramos la pensión básica universal y una persona llega a la edad de pensión con cinco millones, un millón,...

Perú. Hay cuatro millones de personas sin ahorro jubilatorio por retiros en pandemia

Alrededor de cuatro millones de peruanos quedaron sin ahorro jubilatorio, como resultado de las medidas que posibilitaron el retiro de los fondos previsionales en el Sistema Privado de Pensiones (SPP) para afrontar la pandemia por el covid-19, informó hoy Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP (SBS). “Hubo algunas políticas públicas en el marco de la emergencia, que trataron de privilegiar el corto plazo y la situación actual, pero hoy quedan alrededor de cuatro millones de personas desprotegidas, quienes llevaron su...

México. Pensión universal, bazucazo electoral

Por Marco A. Mares Con cargo al erario federal el presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador anunció tremendo beneficio para adultos mayores que ya reciben o que apenas recibirán la pensión universal. Evidentemente, se trata de un bazucazo electoral. El paquete de beneficios tendrá un costo de 370,000 millones de pesos por año, a partir del año 2024 para alrededor de 10.3 millones de adultos mayores.Los aumentos serán graduales y anuales. En consecuencia el presupuesto gubernamental anual pasará de 135,000 millones de pesos al...

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...