December 2021

Iceland’s Gigantic Pension Fund Is Creating a Headache at Home
07Dec

Iceland’s Gigantic Pension Fund Is Creating a Headache at Home

Iceland is confronting the trouble that comes with having a pension system so successful in amassing savings for future retirees that it was recently rated the best in the world. With assets now at about double the size of the north Atlantic island’s economy, the government is considering allowing investment managers to diversify by buying up more securities abroad, prompting the central bank to urge caution. The rules currently limit the share of overseas holdings in pension assets at 50%. “The...

December 7, 2021
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Few Companies Make The Hard Tradeoffs To Reduce Carbon Emissions
06Dec

Few Companies Make The Hard Tradeoffs To Reduce Carbon Emissions

The law firm Crowell & Moring recently released a survey-based report that looked at how companies are navigating pressures to improve their environmental performance. The company surveyed 225 executives whose jobs included environmental, social, and governance issues. 56% of respondents said their company does NOT measure its carbon footprint. What may surprise many people is that increasing pressure from investors is the third most common reason - cited by one third of respondents - for companies to adopt environmental goals....

December 6, 2021
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November 2021
30Nov

Why Is Africa’s Largest Pension Pulling Out of Africa’s Largest Asset Management Firm?

Africa’s largest pension, the South Africa-based Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), allowed its contract with the country’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to lapse, effectively pulling $4.4 billion out of the continent’s largest asset manager. Read also Here Are The Regulatory Changes In The Kenyan Pensions Industry For the $110 billion pension, this equates to approximately 4% of its total assets under management (AUM). The contract was five years long and expired this past March. Read also Bosnia miners end 9-day protest after...

November 30, 2021
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26Nov

Brazilian bill seeks to make infrastructure bonds appealing to global pension funds

Stakeholders in Brazil’s infrastructure sector are hoping for the senate to approve a bill that extends tax breaks on infrastructure debentures, in order to attract global players to invest in financing long-term projects. The country's lower house approved the bill in July and it is now being considered by the upper house. "We’re carrying out several bidding processes that can’t be financed solely with bank financing. We’ll need deep engagement from the capital market, and infrastructure debentures will play a key...

November 26, 2021
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26Nov

An Overview of Retirement Income Planning

By Wade D. Pfau Retirement income planning has emerged as a distinct field within financial planning with the realization that risks change dramatically in retirement. The combination of longevity risk, increasing market risk triggered by taking distributions from assets, and spending shocks create new challenges. Wealth management has traditionally focused on accumulating assets without applying further thought to these differences happening after retirement. Retirees experience reduced capacity to bear financial market risk once they have retired. This calls for different...

November 26, 2021
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24Nov

Pension funds and institutional investors set to increase focus on ESG, says new study

Some 14 per cent said they expect their focus here to increase ‘dramatically’ between now and 2024, with just 7 per cent claiming it will decrease. Read also Longevity, the uncertainty and managing the risks When considering what impact ESG will have on their investment activities, 43 per cent of the institutional investors surveyed said the environmental factor is the most important one for them. Nearly one in three (31 per cent) said social factors are, and 26 per cent selected...

November 24, 2021
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24Nov

Why scaling investment is crucial for sustainable development

Global organizations are cooperating on scaling investment to help achieve sustainability goals. Investment promotion needs to change to target sustainable investments, particularly to help reach climate goals. Turkey is implementing this approach by making the SDGs central to its foreign direct investment strategy. Climate change has been on the international agenda for a long time, but recent developments have upped the urgency of taking immediate action for both humanitarian and developmental reasons. World leaders gathered in Glasgow to discuss...

November 24, 2021
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24Nov

No pension. No savings. No future. No wonder we’re betting the house on crypto

By Rohit Thawani I must begin this article by stating that the information I’m providing is not financial advice. I think I legally have to say that because I heard it on a podcast or whatever, I really don’t know. But, if you’re taking crypto advice from me, that might be your first problem. It all started with a missed shot. Let’s go back to 2004, when I invested my $5,000 life savings into Apple, a company I truly believed in. It...

November 24, 2021
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22Nov

Kenya. Safaricom lifts pension earnings to four-year high

Pensioners have enjoyed the highest returns from investments in four years helped by the big gains on the shares of Safaricom and large banks, which make up the bulk of the pension industry equities investments. Pension funds surveyed by fund administrator Zamara and Actuarial Services East Africa (Actserv) show a return of 15.1 percent on investments for the one year to September 2021, the highest since they reported a 15.5 percent return in 2017. Read also Ghana. Parliament asked to address...

November 22, 2021
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19Nov

Ethics of the Environment

By Julia M. Puaschunder Globalization leveraged pressure on contemporary society. Today's most pressing social dilemmas regarding climate change demand for inclusive solutions that marry the idea of sustainable growth with environmental economics. Understanding the bounds of environmental limits to avoid ethical downfalls beyond the control of singular nation states infringing on intergenerational equity – the fairness to provide an at least as favorable standard of living to future generations as enjoyed today – has become a blatant demand. In a...

November 19, 2021
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