February 2020

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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01Feb

Measuring the ethnicity pensions gap

By The people´s pension Last year The People’s Pension examined in detail the drivers of the yawning gap in pension income between women and men, as the first part of a series examining the UK’s ‘under-pensioned’. Our second report focuses on another dramatically underpensioned group: ethnic minorities. New calculations by The People’s Pension reveal that the UK’s overall ethnicity pension gap – the percentage difference in pension income for pensioners who belong to an ethnic minority group compared to pensioners...

February 1, 2020
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January 2020

31Jan

UK. Brexit and pensions: everything you need to know

etirement savers will have to keep an eye on state pension payouts, the value of the pound and consumer protections now Brexit Day is here. The question on most people’s minds will be what it all means for them and their money. Read also UK’s ethnic minority pensioners are GBP3,350 a year worse off Pensions will be affected in a number of ways and, like all things when it comes to retirement, it will pay to be prepared. This is...

January 31, 2020
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31Jan

Estonian pension reform passes

The Riigikogu has passed the controversial pension reform bill, by 56 votes in favor to 45 against, making membership of the so-called second pillar of the Estonian pension scheme voluntary, also passing the vote of confidence it attached to the bill. Read also Estonia. Reform leader: We’ll use every means possible to halt pension reform mess The Compulsory Funded Pension Reform Act, to give it its full title, once it comes into effect, will make membership of the so-called second...

January 31, 2020
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31Jan

UK’s ethnic minority pensioners are GBP3,350 a year worse off

In the UK, the average pensioner from an ethnic minority is GBP3,350 a year worse off than other people their age, according to new analysis from The People’s Pension. The pension provider’s new report, Measuring the Ethnicity Pension Gap, highlights that the average ethnic minority pensioner’s income is 24.4 per cent less than their white counterpart. The divide is even greater from a gender perspective; on average, the gap in annual pension income between a female pensioner from...

January 31, 2020
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30Jan

Estonia. Reform leader: We’ll use every means possible to halt pension reform mess

Reform Party leader Kaja Kallas says that the large number of proposed amends opposition parties made to the coalition's pensions reform bill to be vote on today were needed, given its huge socio-economic impact, and that she and her party intend to fight the bill every step of the way. "What worries them most is the pension system being dismantled in the way it is," Kallas said, speaking on ETV politics discussion show "Esimene stuudio" Tuesday night. "The experts...

January 30, 2020
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30Jan

Dutch sector schemes active on online comms to cut costs

Several large Dutch sector schemes are actively trying to persuade their participants to pass on their email addresses in order to save on communication costs and for sustainability reasons. They are finding, however, that the process is laborious, and that they have a long way to go before they no longer need the postman and can save millions of euros through digital correspondence. Although most schemes already have an online platform and prefer digital communication, the main hurdle is...

January 30, 2020
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29Jan

Measly Returns Spark $5 Billion Raid on Estonian Pension Savings

Cracking open a 4.85 billion-euro ($5.3 billion) piggy bank of pension savings may be a vote-winner. But Estonia’s plan to allow early access to retirement cash is facing a tide of criticism for being short-sighted. The government is meeting an election pledge by a junior coalition member to let more than half the Baltic nation’s 1.3 million residents reinvest or spend mandatory pension savings taken from tax contributions and gross salaries since 2002. The money would be released from...

January 29, 2020
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