May 2022

Nigeria. Civil war veterans protest 44 years unpaid pensions in Ibadan

Some retired military men who fought during the Nigerian civil war protested their 44 years of unpaid pensions on Wednesday in Ibadan, Oyo State capital. The group under the umbrella of the First Intake Able Voluntary Retired Or Discharged Ten Or More Years in Military Service, and led by their national coordinator, Babawande Philips, took to the streets of Ibadan with placards bearing various inscriptions. Mr Philips said the ex-military men had continued to suffer in the last 44 years when...

UK. 60% of pension funds don’t expect to meet net zero goals

Sixty per cent of a group of large pension funds across North America, Europe and Australasia believe they will fail to achieve their net zero goals under current conditions, new research has revealed. This pessimistic outlook — disclosed by Create-Research, which surveyed 50 large funds that collectively manage €3.3tn (£2.9tn) in assets — comes despite more than half of those surveyed having either already embedded or are in the process of incorporating net zero strategies into their portfolios. The findings will...

La brecha de género en la inclusión financiera en México

La brecha de género en la inclusión financiera en México

Por Patricia López Rodríguez Las mujeres enfrentan condiciones desiguales de trabajo, tienen menos oportunidades para educarse que los hombres, menos posibilidades de tener un empleo formal, poseen menos activos y generalmente no son dueñas de sus tierras o propiedades, estos factores crean barreras para el acceso a los servicios y productos financieros. Si bien cada vez más mujeres abren cuentas bancarias en México, todavía existe una brecha de género de 7 puntos porcentuales que no ha variado desde el año...

El efecto de los planes de pensiones de empresa sobre el ahorro privado de los hogares

Por Marina Gómez-García y Ernesto Villanueva Los planes de pensiones de empresa tienen un incentivo fiscal que puede, bien contribuir a que los partícipes aumenten su ahorro total, o bien, por el contrario, desplazar un ahorro que se habría materializado en otros vehículos financieros en ausencia de dicho incentivo. Este trabajo utiliza datos de la Encuesta Financiera de las Familias para aproximar el ahorro adicional generado por este tipo de planes. Para ello, se compara la situación financiera de los...

Las garantías de pensiones mínimas en sistemas de contribución definida en América Latina: un nuevo pasivo contingente

Las garantías de pensiones mínimas en sistemas de contribución definida en América Latina: un nuevo pasivo contingente

Por Carola Pessino & Walter Cont Frente a beneficios previsionales de los regímenes de capitalización en niveles mucho más bajos que los previstos, los gobiernos de la región de América Latina han logrado garantizar pensiones mínimas a sus beneficiarios; sin embargo, carecen de estimaciones robustas de los pasivos fiscales contingentes asociados a las garantías. Sobre la base de un modelo de microsimulación, en este documento se llevan a cabo proyecciones hasta el año 2100 para Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador,...

Russia-Ukraine War Has U.S. Pensions Examining Long-Term Investment Sustainability

Russia´s invasion of Ukraine has caused  U.S. pension plan sponsors to focus on the long-term sustainability of their plan’s investments. U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia have caused U.S.-based pension funds to divest from or suspend allocations to the emerging market’s assets. But this will have narrow impacts to defined benefit plans’ risk and return outlooks, according to pension investment experts. “For most of our clients, their exposure to Russian securities is very small,” says David Eisenberg, outsourced chief investment officer leader at Buck. Many pension plans...

UK. Queen’s Speech measures spark protests

There was no mention of automatic enrolment reform in the Queen’s Speech, but bills around local boycotts, online safety and a revamped audit and reporting framework will all impact the industry, experts have said. Campaigners have promised to take to the streets to protest a bill aimed at tackling local boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns by public bodies including the Local Government Pension Scheme. Meanwhile, pensions minister Guy Opperman has promised that a consultation into a new value for money framework...

Zimbabwe: Low Pensions Force Workers to Resist Retirement

Low pensions payouts by both private and public sectors to workers has forced many to shun retirement. Some workers have reportedly gone to the extent of misrepresenting their dates of birth to postpone retirement from the organisations they would have served. What makes it worse is that the ongoing hyperinflation and which is eating into incomes as well as very low remuneration by both private companies and the government. In some instances, workers who have reached pensionable age die at work due...

Large corporate defined benefit plans in Canada are fully funded

Corporate defined benefit plans of public companies in Canada surged to 100% funding with higher discount rates. Asset allocations were little changed. Liability-driven investing continued to be at the forefront with about 50% of assets invested in fixed income. Alternative investments did increase to 7.7%, which was the highest allocation since data have been tracked. The median funded status increased to 100.3% up from 91.5% in 2020. This was the first time the median funding level increased to more than 100%...

US. Companies Race to Offload Pension Risk as Market Volatility Rises

The market for pension risk transfers is booming. In the first quarter of 2022, U.S. pension risk transfers reached $5.5 billion in total market volume, marking its largest quarter to date, according to Legal & General Retirement America’s pension risk transfer monitor. A PRT deal happens when a retirement provider — usually a corporate pension plan sponsor — unloads a portion of (or all) of its liabilities to an insurance company. Beth Ashmore, managing director of retirement at Willis Towers Watson,...