March 2021

Many over-55s could be heading for retirement income shortfall, says survey

Many over-55s who are approaching retirement risk exhausting their pension savings early, a survey suggests. A quarter (25%) of those aged 55 to 64 who are still working said they were only budgeting for their retirement income to last 10 years or less, Standard Life found. One in eight (12%) are planning for their retirement income to support them for just one to five years. Three in 10 (29%) over-55s expect to need the same amount of cash each year throughout their...

México. Educación financiera para la mujer, es progreso para todos

Por Rebeca Feria García Es evidente que somos parte de una sociedad que forja y arropa serios problemas en contra de nosotras las mujeres. Elegir un tema para hablar este mes a propósito del Dia Internacional de la Mujer, resulta complejo, esto porque son varios temas que nos tiene en una posición de desventaja y que urge atender. Por mencionar algunos: violencia de género (en todas sus formas), acceso a educación, oportunidades de empleo, nivel de sueldos y acceso a...

Chile. Alejandra Cox se convierte en la primera mujer presidenta del directorio de Asociación de AFP

La Asociación de Administradora de Fondos de Pensiones tendrá a una nueva presidenta de directorio. Se trata de la economista Alejandra Cox Anwandter, quien posee un perfil técnico con alto conocimiento en temas de Seguridad Social y Sistemas de Pensiones en todo el mundo. Su designación ocurrió tras la renuncia al cargo de Pedro Atria Alonso, quien aseguró que “hemos vivido tiempos desafiantes que nos han permitido acercarnos a los más de 11 millones de afiliados, entregándoles información oportuna y...

Banks, pensions, and sovereign funds fail to achieve gender balance, finds OMFIF

By Madeleine Taylor Less than 1 per cent of central banks, sovereign funds, public pension funds and commercial banks have achieved gender balance within their workforces, according to a comprehensive survey by Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF). Think tank OMFIF surveyed 540 institutions on gender diversity among senior staff, and found only three that had achieved perfect scores for gender balance among their senior staff, while another 12 were “close to achieving balance”. The three highest ranking institutions were US...

UK. Pension challenges women face will impact on their retirement

By Jessica List March 8 marks International Women’s Day and celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The campaign theme for this year is ‘Choose To Challenge’. The reason this has been chosen is that the organisers recognise that a challenged world is an alert world, and from challenge comes change. It is amazing to think that International Women’s Day is over 100 years old, the first gathering was in 1911. Much has changed over this time but according...

Ghana. Low financial literacy responsible for low patronage of pensions by women and informal workers

A Compliance officer with the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) says low financial literacy is the cause of low patronage of the pension scheme among women and people in the informal sector. Lois Asiamah said the lack of adequate and appropriate information concerning pensions has left a lot of Ghanaian women and others in the informal sector unaware of the opportunities and advantages of investing in a pension scheme. She added that due to the lack of financial literacy, people in...

Why SFDR is a gamechanger for the ESG landscape

Requirements emanating from the EU's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which are broad in scope, impacting not only asset managers but also other financial market participants including the likes of insurers, pension providers, as well as qualifying venture capital and social entrepreneurship managers. Julian Ide explains the significance of the SFDR In recent years, the demand for ESG products from investors has grown quite rapidly with no signs of slowing down. Investors increasingly want products that better reflect their values and beliefs,...

China Plans New State Pension Firm as Population Ages

China plans to create a new state-owned pension firm to tackle a massive funding gap as the world’s largest population struggles to finance retirement despite decades of economic growth. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission is mulling a national pension company with state-owned banks and insurers as shareholders, according to people familiar with the discussions. Details such as the shareholding structure and size of investment are still being hammered out, they said, declining to be identified as the plan...

Taking a workforce break to raise children hurts retirement savings – economist

By Margarida Correia Taking time off from the workforce to take care of children can put a serious dent in workers’ long-term retirement savings. That was one of the central points that Michael Madowitz, an economist with the Center for American Progress, made as the keynote speaker Monday at Pensions & Investments' 2021 Defined Contribution Virtual Conference. A 29-year-old woman earning $44,000 who decides to take two years off for raising a child would not simply lose $88,000 for the two years she...

Delivering prevention in an ageing world: Democratising access to prevention – Consultation paper

By International Longevity Centre UK Following our year-long Prevention in an ageing world programme that sparked conversations from Abu Dhabi to Taipei, Austin, Geneva, Sydney, London all the way to the G20 Health Ministers, the message is clear. It’s never too late to prevent. And the health and economic costs of failing to invest in preventative interventions across the life course are simply too high to ignore. We know that prevention works, but for too long cultural, economic and geographic divides...