February 2020

06Feb

French strikes pass two-month mark with protest planned for Paris

French unions have called for another national day of protest against the government’s pension reform plan on Thursday - the day the plans come before the French parliament. But, two months in to the social movement, the level of disruption was expected to be low compared to what the country saw in the early days of the social movement. Transport is running almost as normal across the country - even in Paris, which was the area hardest hit by...

February 6, 2020
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05Feb

FTSE 350 pension deficit increases sharply as UK exits EU

Mercer’s Pensions Risk Survey data shows that the accounting deficit of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes for the UK’s 350 largest listed companies increased from £40bn at the end of December 2019 to £57bn on 31 January. Liability values increased by £34bn to £916bn compared to £882bn at the end of December. The increase was primarily driven by falls in corporate bond yields. Asset values were £859bn (an increase of £17bn compared to the corresponding figure of £842bn at...

February 5, 2020
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05Feb

Estonia. President not to hold further legal assessment of pension reform bill

President Kersti Kaljulaid is not planning to commission a legal assessment on the government bill to reform the Estonian pensions system, which passed the Riigikogu on January 29. "Over recent months, various parties have been conducting analyses on pension reform, and we do not plan to add to that," the president's communications officer Taavi Linnamäe told ERR. This did not mean the president would not be thoroughly examining the bill, which makes employee contributions to the so-called second pillar of...

February 5, 2020
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05Feb

Pension inequality: Not enough is being done to close the wealth gap for women of colour in retirement

Since the dawn of auto-enrolment in 2012, the narrative from some in the corridors of power is that we have a pensions system which works for everybody. Not quite. While more than 10 million more workers have started saving over the past eight years, we still have a long way to go before we can argue with a straight face that the playing field for retirement saving is a level one. We now have more evidence about who the...

February 5, 2020
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04Feb

Europe’s biggest pension fund sets 2050 ‘climate neutral’ goal

ABP, Europe’s biggest pension fund, will phase out investments in coal miners and companies that extract oil from tar sands as part of a plan to make its €466bn investment portfolio “climate neutral” by 2050. Read also Netherlands’ $515 billion pension fund to accelerate cuts to fossil fuel investments Launching a new sustainability policy on 3 February, the pension fund said that, over the next five years, it plans to slash the CO2 emissions from its €150bn equity portfolio...

February 4, 2020
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04Feb

Ireland’s pensions: All set for big changes

This year is set to be pivotal for the Irish pension system. Ambitious plans set out in 2018 are progressing, albeit with problems still to be resolved, while the government is expected to introduce legislation enacting the EU’s IORP II directive – more than a year after the deadline passed in January 2019. Changes to the state pension age are also coming into force, rising from 66 to 67. However, the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF) has...

February 4, 2020
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04Feb

Longevity and risk transfer: a booming market

Last year marked a record year for the UK’s pension risk transfer (PRT) market, with an estimated £50bn (€59bn) worth of transactions completed, including buy-ins, buyouts, and longevity swaps. The total was almost double that of the previous year, according to Mercer, which compiled the figures, and there were several innovative approaches to buy-ins and buyouts as demand from pension funds and competition among insurers reached new highs. Communications company Telent conducted the biggest single deal of the...

February 4, 2020
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03Feb

France. Pension reform: debates kick off with 22,000 amendments

71 French members of Parliament will today start examining a controverisial pension reform bill in an ad-hoc commission. The opposition has submitted some 22,000 amendments. Read also French strikes pass two-month mark with protest planned for Paris The 71 members of the Assemblée Nationale on this special commission have just two weeks to examine the 70 articles of the two pension reform bills which have fueled strikes and protests across France since 5 December 2019. The bills will then be subject to debate in Parliament...

February 3, 2020
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03Feb

Netherlands’ $515 billion pension fund to accelerate cuts to fossil fuel investments

The Netherlands’ biggest pension fund, ABP, said on Monday it aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its asset portfolio by 40% from 2015 levels by 2025. ABP, which already set a target to cut the carbon footprint of its assets by 25% from 2015 levels by this year, follows moves by other leading funds - notably Norway’s $1.1 trillion sovereign wealth fund - to divest heavy polluting energy companies from its portfolio. ABP manages 465 billion euros ($515 billion) in...

February 3, 2020
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01Feb

Reforming Pensions in Developing and Transition Countries (Social Policy in a Development Context)

By K. Hujo This book moves beyond technical studies of pension systems by addressing the political economy of pension reform in different contexts. It provides insights into key issues related to pension policy and its developmental implications, drawing on selected country studies in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. Get the book here

February 1, 2020
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