November 2020

23Nov

What South Africans Need To Know About Offshore Investing

South Africans looking to make proper provision for their retirement should consider utilising their full annual foreign exchange provisions and should choose the right offshore investment options to protect themselves from a volatile economic and political environment. This is according to Sovereign Trust SA. Many South Africans still feel conflicted about investing offshore, partly because they don’t understand the differences between local and international retirement plans, said Richard Neal, MD of Sovereign Trust SA. “While offshore retirement funds, like...

November 23, 2020
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20Nov

UK pension funds urged to step up infrastructure investing to boost long-term economic sustainability

A recent report by PwC found that the UK will need to increase infrastructure spending to GBP40 billion a year, double the current level, in order to reach its target of net zero by 2050. “In the UK, investment in infrastructure by long-term investors is minuscule,” said Nick Silver, co-founder of the Climate Bonds Initiative, at the World Pensions Council event. Pension funds allocate on a risk-return basis, and have historically shown a strong preference for liquidity – leading...

November 20, 2020
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20Nov

US. Nearly 30 Million Baby Boomers Forced Into Unwanted Retirement

In the third quarter of 2020, roughly 28.6 million Baby Boomers have left the job market and retired, according to the Pew Research Center. The study shows that Covid-19 has contributed to the rapid increase of Boomers—born between 1946 and 1964—being forced out of the labor market. Since the onset of the outbreak, the number of Boomer-aged retirees has increased by about 1.1 million. Over 65 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since March...

November 20, 2020
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19Nov

Canada. More firms disclosing climate-related risks, strategies: report

Within the last three years, Canada’s financial firms have increasingly begun providing insight on their material climate-related risks and goals in alignment with recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), A new study from the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services (GRI) said there’s been a 40% increase in the number of companies that provide TCFD-related disclosure and information. There are now 25 firms, include big banks and pension funds, that follow TCFD recommendations, compared to...

November 19, 2020
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19Nov

UK. More Consumers Than Ever Are Managing Their Pensions Online

New figures from the UK’s leading online pension provider, PensionBee, show that consumers are increasingly managing their pensions online, following a 96% increase in PensionBee app users, as well as an 85% growth in the number of invested customers year on year. PensionBee, the UK’s leading online pension provider, has experienced an 85% increase in the number of invested customers over the past year. Invested customers, defined as having pension assets in a PensionBee plan, currently number around 60,000....

November 19, 2020
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19Nov

Nigeria. Retirees protest unpaid pensions

Pensioners in southwestern Nigeria stormed a government building Wednesday, protesting a lack of payments, local media reported. Angry protestors raised placards, in front of the Government Secretariat in the town of Abeere, adjacent to Osogbo, the capital of Osun state, according to local news website The Punch. The report did not elaborate on the reason for the state administration's alleged failure to pay pensions Nigeria, an oil-rich nation that has one of Africa's highest populations, has been suffering...

November 19, 2020
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19Nov

Australia. 12% superannuation hangs in the balance

The federal government will release the findings of its review into retirement incomes on Friday. Amongst other things, the review is believed to support a recent warning from Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe that the legislated increase in the superannuation guarantee (SG) will reduce wages and economic growth. The SG is slated to rise from 9.5% to 10% in mid-2021, but the government is set to delay a decision on proceeding with this increase until it hands down the...

November 19, 2020
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18Nov

French Senate passes social security draft budget, revives pensions polemic

Before the modifications in the Senate, the bill passed the National Assembly with 190 votes in favour, 106 votes against and 50 abstentions. As France deals with the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, senators voted to increase health provisions overall. Retirement age, again The Senate is dominated by a right-wing opposition and has re-introduced a proposal to extend the retirement age in order to balance the pension system. It recommends both pushing back the legal retirement age to 63...

November 18, 2020
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18Nov

Latin America’s leaders will have plenty of headaches

For latin america´s leaders 2021 will be about steering economic recovery while fending off a debt crisis and trying to persuade their citizens that democracy can still deliver results. What are the prospects around the region? With populations ravaged by covid-19 despite long lockdowns, many countries may have some degree of “herd immunity”. But the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic will linger: after economies contracted by 8% or so in 2020, Latin America will have some 40m “new poor”,...

November 18, 2020
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18Nov

South Africa. GEPF asset market value declines by 11.4% – annual report

Ryk Van Niekerk: The Government Employees Pension Fund, or GEPF, released its annual report yesterday, November 16, 2020. It was for their financial year to the end of March this year. Now the GEPF is a defined-benefit fund, which manages pensions and related benefits on behalf of government employees in South Africa. It was established in 1996, and is the largest pension fund in South Africa and one of the largest in the world. The fund’s asset value stood...

November 18, 2020
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