March 2021

The PEPP Contribution to the Capital Markets Union (CMU)

By Jorik van Zanden, Hans van Meerten, Andrea Minto The EU has several ‘pension problems, for example ageing, poor portability and the lack of consumer protection. Furthermore, the EU internal market for pensions is not sufficiently developed. This not only prevents, for example, a cost-efficient pension build-up of an employee working abroad, but the differences among national rule also restrict a local pension participant in choosing a pension fund established abroad. All these problems have been recently pointed out in the...

Private Markets, Infrastructure and Venture Capital in the Post-COVID Era: The Pension Perspective

By David Weeks, M. Nicolas J. Firzli This second of a series of seven papers co-authored by M. Nicolas J. Firzli and David Weeks looks at the notions of private markets – PE, VC, private debt and infrastructure – and the "quest for yields" in a low interest rates environment, which where discussed at two recent global conferences organised by the G7 Pensions Summit (G7 P7) and the Singapore Economic Forum (SEF). ESG, impact investing, renewable energy and the notion of...

UK. Pension longevity risk transfers reach record-breaking £55.8bn in 2020

Longevity risk transfers by UK pension schemes reached a record level of £55.8bn in 2020, rising above the £51.6bn completed the year before, analysis from LCP and Mercer has shown. Total buy-in and buyout volumes were £31.7bn, the second largest ever recorded in a single year but behind the £43.8bn bumper volumes racked up in 2019, with the record-breaking year instead being driven by longevity swaps reaching £24.1bn. Legal & General (L&G) had a 24 per cent market share, followed by...

US. $35 Trillion in Retirement Savings Tells a Tale of Two Economies

New data published by the Investment Company Institute (ICI) shows total U.S. retirement assets grew to $34.9 trillion as of December 31, which is up 7.5% from the end of the third quarter of the year and up 9.3% overall for last year. With such strong growth for the year, the ICI reports, retirement assets accounted for a third of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of December. The ICI update shows that assets in...

Perú. Comisión de Trabajo aprueba jubilación anticipada en AFP a los 50 años de edad

La Comisión de Trabajo del Congreso aprobó un proyecto de ley con el que se busca permitir que todas las personas que se encuentren desempleadas puedan acceder al régimen de jubilación anticipada en las administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones (AFP) al cumplir los 50 años de edad. Leer también Perú. Hay cuatro millones de personas sin ahorro jubilatorio por retiros en pandemia La iniciativa busca modificar la Ley 30939, que regula dicho régimen. Los requisitos para acceder a este beneficio son...

35% de trabajadores en México no recibe prestaciones, revela el censo

Poco más de una tercera parte de las personas ocupadas en México no tiene prestaciones laborales, prácticamente la mitad no está en un sistema de pensiones ni tiene acceso a un crédito hipotecario y la mayoría no recibe utilidades, de acuerdo con el cuestionario ampliado del Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020. Leer también México. Edad para recibir pensión de adultos mayores bajará de 68 a 65 años, anuncia AMLO Además, 12.8 por ciento se atiende en farmacias cuando debe hacer...

Chile. Senadora Goic propone fondo de un millón de pesos para cada niño al nacer

La nueva presidenta de la Comisión de Trabajo del Senado, Carolina Goic (DC), presentó tres indicaciones a la reforma previsional, la que más destaca, la denominada "Ley de la Marraqueta", para que cada niño al nacer tenga un millón de pesos en su fondo. También propone la creación de una pensión básica universal y la equidad para las mujeres en materia previsional, temas que espera se traten en la discusión de la reforma que impulsa el Ejecutivo. Leer también Chile. Presidenta...

China to Raise Retirement Age to Offset Funding Shortfall  

China is the world’s most populated country but decades of a strictly enforced one-child policy, shortage of social security funds and a comparatively young retirement age is forcing Beijing to act in the face of a shrinking work force. Read also China. Power or Profits: Beijing’s Pension Dilemma Analysts estimate the country’s labor force will lose 35 million workers over the next five years and that during that same period, the number of citizens eligible for retirement will surge to more...

US Corporate Pension Funded Ratio Climbs to 92.9% in February

Funding for the 100 largest US corporate pension plans, as tracked by the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index, improved by $67 billion in February as the plans’ aggregate funded ratio rose to 92.9% from 89.7%, thanks to a 26 basis point increase in the monthly discount rate. It was the fifth straight month funded ratios have improved. Read also U.S. Participants don’t know what is happening to their fees A paltry investment gain of 0.13% during the month led to a...

Kenya: Former Telkom Workers Wallow in Poverty As Pension Scheme Holds On to Payout

On a bright Wednesday morning, Agnes Ouma sits on a blue plastic chair outside her neighbour's house, in Jamhuri estate on Ngong road. She is going through her phone book. Midway, she pauses and laments: "Nobody receives my calls these days." She thinks that most of her contacts have blacklisted her. Because whenever she calls, it is to ask for financial help. Since retrenchment, she says, she has been reduced to a borrower -- borrowing without any clear plan to repay. "No...