May 2020
05May

White House Makes Appointments That Could Impact Pension Fund Decision to Invest in China

The White House on Monday named three nominees to sit on a board that oversees federal employee pension funds, a move that could see the reversal of a decision to allow one of the funds to invest in Chinese companies under scrutiny from Washington. If confirmed by the Senate, the three individuals would sit on the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) which administers the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), a retirement savings fund similar to a 401(k) for federal...

May 5, 2020
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April 2020

22Apr

US. Trump pressed to halt federal pension investments in China’s ZTE, Hikvision: Reuters

Lawmakers and former officials are making a last-ditch push to persuade the Trump administration to halt plans to invest billions of federal employee retirement dollars in Chinese companies that Washington suspects of human rights abuses or threatening U.S. security, according to sources and documents seen by Reuters. Read also Coronavirus will make US cities feel the pressure of pension debt The campaign, which includes letters and calls from Republicans and a sharply worded memo shared with White House Chief of...

April 22, 2020
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March 2020

20Mar

Pension Superpowers and Financial Markets in the Sino-American Century

By M. Nicolas J. Firzli In this primer published in the Feb. 2020 issue of Private Debt Investor (PDI), Nicolas J. Firzli, World Pensions Council, looks at how institutional asset owners will come to the fore in the new geo-economic context defined by renewed Sino-American "coopetition" across ASEAN countries, Australia, Eastern Europe and the MENA area, Brexit and the resurgence of one-nation conservatism in Britain, the slow, relative decline of the European Union and the secular rise of "Pension...

March 20, 2020
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11Mar

China’s total pensions assets grew by 19 percent to RMB 15 trillion in 2019, forecasts KPMG

China's three-pillar pension sector sees healthy growth prospects, improving investment returns and growing participation following regulatory changes. China's total pension assets are expected to have grown by 19 percent in 2019 to more than RMB 15 trillion. This is a year-on-year growth rate similar to its long-term average of 17 percent recorded over the last decade. According to KPMG's latest China Pensions Outlook report, the increase was due to the development of occupational annuities and continued capital injection under...

March 11, 2020
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February 2020

24Feb

China’s state pension plan needs retooling as slowdown, ageing population hit retirement pot

China’s ageing population is increasing the pressure on the state pension deficit at the same time employers are falling behind on their contributions. A deeper economic slowdown could burn a bigger hole in the retirement pot, experts say. The cumulative balance in the pool stood at about 5 trillion yuan (US$712 billion) at the end of 2019, and the employers’ contributions were expected to fall short by 417.4 billion yuan due to measures to ease their burden, vice finance...

February 24, 2020
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07Feb

Coronavirus fallout hits pensions and ISAs as investors urged not to flinch

The first day back to work after a long holiday is always a bit grating. But for those logging in at the Chinese stock market for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak, all bets were off. Read also Super funds push for lower pension age for Indigenous Australians The rest of the world’s markets have been riding the waves of coronavirus-induced volatility for weeks now as the infection spreads, while the epicenter remained economically silent. Read also Pension inequality:...

February 7, 2020
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January 2020

24Jan

Health Inequality Among Chinese Older Adults: The Role of Childhood Circumstances

By Binjian Yan, Xi Chen, Thomas M. Gill This paper examines the extent to which childhood circumstances contribute to health inequality in old age and how the contributions may vary across key dimensions of health. We link the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2013 and 2015 with its Life History Survey in 2014 to quantify health inequality due to childhood circumstances for which they have little control. We evaluate comprehensive dimensions of health ranging from cognitive...

January 24, 2020
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16Jan

China’s social insurance system remains stable

China's social insurance system remained stable in 2019, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. By the end of 2019, a total of 967 million people were covered by basic old-age insurance, about 205 million were enrolled in unemployment insurance, and around 255 million people held work-related injury insurance. The gross revenue of the three social insurance funds totaled 5.82 trillion yuan (about 844 billion U.S. dollars), and the total expenditures hit 5.41 trillion yuan in...

January 16, 2020
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November 2019

06Nov

Rising tensions pose Asia dilemma for US pensions

US state pension schemes certainly don’t lack for problems. Many have nowhere near enough funds to cover growing payout liabilities (see first box below). And they struggle to shift their members from defined benefit to defined contribution schemes which would sap their assets less quickly. Read also China Life Pension Assets Doubled One solution would be to improve investment performance. Unfortunately, asset returns have been falling and market volatility rising, in part because of the geopolitical uncertainty and US-China trade...

November 6, 2019
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05Nov

China Life Pension Assets Doubled

China Life Pension has doubled its assets under management in the past 12 months to more than 1 trillion yuan ($142bn) and could soon join the ranks of the world’s largest pension funds over the next two years. Until recently, many Chinese provinces have managed their own pension funds. However, the central government in the past year has opened up the management of pension assets to a handful of domestic groups including China Life. It hopes that such moves...

November 5, 2019
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