January 2021

28Jan

South Africa take-home pay numbers decline

The steep decline in the number of take-home payments has adjusted the average South African salary by a few percentage points, according to the BankservAfrica Take-home Pay Index (BTPI) for December 2020. “The real average take-home pay increased by 2,1% year-on-year,” says Shergeran Naidoo, BankservAfrica’s Head of Stakeholder Engagements. “The reason behind this is not positive. The average salary rose as a result of the decline in the number of lower paid earners that led to a 5,4% nominal...

January 28, 2021
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27Jan

US. Investment Earnings Drive 71% of Public Pension Revenue

Earnings on investments accounted for 71 percent of public retirement system revenues, while employer and employee contributions provided 20 percent and 9 percent respectively, according to an annual study by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems. Hank H. Kim, Esq., executive director and counsel of the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems The share of revenues that comes from investment earnings edged up from 69 percent a year earlier, while the employer contribution dipped from...

January 27, 2021
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27Jan

Analysis: Sovereign wealth, public pension giants caught up in U.S.-China tech fight

Some of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds and public pension funds are getting caught in the escalating tensions over technology between the United States and China, a Reuters analysis of their filings data and public disclosures show. Read also US. Biden May Have to Move Quickly to Reverse Anti-ESG Rule They range from Norway and Singapore’s giant sovereign wealth funds to Switzerland’s central bank and the $1.1 trillion U.S. TIAA, founded over a century ago by Andrew Carnegie as...

January 27, 2021
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27Jan

How to help an ageing population stay wealthy for longer

Longevity can be harnessed as a force for good and a driver of economic growth. Financial providers increasingly diversify their products to support the wealth and lifespan of their consumers. Nudging behaviour towards financial planning and wellbeing can lead people to make better decisions. Two thirds of the world’s population will be 65 years and above by 2050, according to the UN, and the projection for the global ageing economy is already estimated to reach $27 trillion by 2025...

January 27, 2021
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26Jan

Canada. Morneau Shepell releases the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers’ Pooled Funds

Morneau Shepell (TSX: MSI) has released the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers’ Pooled Funds for the fourth quarter of 2020. According to the report, in the fourth quarter of 2020, diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of 5.7 per cent before management fees and 9.3 per cent since the beginning of the year. “The stock market rebound continued into the fourth quarter, most market indices showed positive returns. The MSCI World Index delivered 8.7...

January 26, 2021
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26Jan

Australia. Super top-up: Funds call for $5000 payments for low-income earners

The federal government should make one-off contributions of up to $5000 into the superannuation accounts of low-income earners who accessed their retirement savings early, a lobby group has argued. The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) on Monday released new analysis showing almost one million young workers who accessed the government’s early super access scheme had either emptied their accounts or reduced their balances to less than $1000. Amid mounting evidence of the recession’s disproportionate impact on young people,...

January 26, 2021
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25Jan

Covid-19 And The Future Of Aging: Technology For Connecting

By Joseph F. Coughlin Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging: What impacts will the Covid-19 pandemic have on development of technologies that enable older adults to connect with their communities and live independently? Joseph F. Coughlin: By April last year, the nation changed overnight. Work commutes, shopping trips, nights out and visits with friends and family were abruptly halted. We retreated into our homes. Both fear and caution locked us inside. Suddenly, all of us were part of...

January 25, 2021
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22Jan

World Bank exposes economic and social impact of coronavirus in South Asia

Governments in South Asia, one of the poorest areas in the world, are ruthlessly imposing the burden of economic devastation created by the coronavirus pandemic onto the working masses. COVID-19 infections continue to wreak havoc, with the number of infections in the region climbing yesterday to a total of 12 million with 176,000 deaths in the region. Also Read: OECD launches MENA Pension Oultook report for the fisrt time Globally, the number of cases has hit 95 million with over...

January 22, 2021
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22Jan

US. Special Report: Why Pennsylvania SERS is Moving Toward a Liability-Driven Benchmark

Seth Kelly, the investment chief at the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS), joined the pension fund just half a year ago, but he’s already overseeing some big changes. Board members at the $31.5 billion pension fund last month announced that they are increasing their fixed income allocation in order to move the pension fund toward a liability-driven benchmark. The trustees hope that the changes to the investment policy statement (IPS), including a new 7.8% target for long...

January 22, 2021
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21Jan

Digital finance and inclusion in the time of COVID-19

By Niclas Benni The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in severe and protracted disruptions to the livelihoods of people all around the world, both in developing and developed countries. The pervasive effects of this pandemic, which have ended up affecting every aspect of our societies, keep unfolding as the crisis progresses, leaving profound marks on people’s livelihoods and countries’ economies that are expected to last for many years after the pandemic has ended. As part of the global response to...

January 21, 2021
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