April 2020
30Apr

Japan’s GPIF Seeking Active and Passive Managers for Foreign Bonds

The Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) in Japan is aggressively seeking active and passive managers of foreign bonds to diversify its portfolio beyond low-paying Japanese bonds. The world’s largest pension fund is seeking broad asset managers with access to various benchmarks, such as corporate high yield indexes, emerging market indices, and aggregate indexes, the GPIF said. On Monday, the pension fund also said it is considering appointing a new fund of fund (FoF) manager for infrastructure assets in emerging...

April 30, 2020
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30Apr

Pension Fund Industry in Mexico: Analyzing the S&P/BMV Mexico Target Risk Index Series across Different Economic Crises

By Jaime Merino This article is reprinted from the Indexology blog of S&P Dow Jones Indices. It is unnecessary to give an update on today’s economic situation since most already have a wealth of information over the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. I will instead focus on another major concern: how have pension funds performed, and furthermore, are there similarities in how they have performed during other crises? After the S&P/BMV IPC dropped 16.38% from its highest monthly return posted...

April 30, 2020
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30Apr

Japan’s GPIF Seeking Active and Passive Managers for Foreign Bonds

The Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) in Japan is aggressively seeking active and passive managers of foreign bonds to diversify its portfolio beyond low-paying Japanese bonds. The world’s largest pension fund is seeking broad asset managers with access to various benchmarks, such as corporate high yield indexes, emerging market indices, and aggregate indexes, the GPIF said. On Monday, the pension fund also said it is considering appointing a new fund of fund (FoF) manager for infrastructure assets...

April 30, 2020
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22Apr

US. Trump pressed to halt federal pension investments in China’s ZTE, Hikvision: Reuters

Lawmakers and former officials are making a last-ditch push to persuade the Trump administration to halt plans to invest billions of federal employee retirement dollars in Chinese companies that Washington suspects of human rights abuses or threatening U.S. security, according to sources and documents seen by Reuters. Read also Coronavirus will make US cities feel the pressure of pension debt The campaign, which includes letters and calls from Republicans and a sharply worded memo shared with White House Chief of...

April 22, 2020
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17Apr

Australia’s Morrison Wants Pensions to Fund Company Bailouts

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants the nation’s pension funds to take more action to cushion the blow from the coronavirus crisis. In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s 7:30 program Thursday night, Morrison said the nation’s A$2.95 trillion ($1.9 trillion) pension pot should be used to bail out companies as the government “is not the only economic actor in this event.” “I’d like to see the industry and broader superannuation funds playing a more active role in...

April 17, 2020
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16Apr

Chile gives pension funds more firepower as virus batters growth

Chile’s Central Bank agreed on Wednesday to increase the maximum investment limits on alternative assets for four of the country’s five public pension funds as it seeks to contain the impact of the coronavirus health crisis on the economy. The bank said in a statement that the move was designed to allow for “diversification of the pension fund portfolios ... to access better combinations of risk and return.” The potential to extend the funds’ investments could provide a welcome...

April 16, 2020
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14Apr

US Corporate Pensions See Shocking $93 Billion Funding Gain in March

Defying forecasts of another grim month due to global market volatility, the funded status of the 100 largest US corporate pension funds surprisingly increased $93 billion in March despite deteriorating economic conditions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Just a month after hitting its lowest level in more than three years the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index (PFI), which tracks the funded ratio for the 100 largest corporate pension plans in the US, rose to 85.6% from 82.1% at the end...

April 14, 2020
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13Apr

US. Retirement planning during coronavirus pandemic: Here’s what to watch for

Retirement in the age of coronavirus isn't going to be easy. True, seniors and pre-retirees can take advantage of some flexible and lenient new rules on retirement accounts. Some people might see new opportunities for part-time employment, especially those who can work from home. In many other ways, things could get tougher, especially for people who already were behind on their retirement preparations. More reliance on Social Security As happened during prior recessions, many older workers will lose...

April 13, 2020
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13Apr

Greece. Nightmare scenarios for pension system

Social security experts and the government are having to consider nightmare scenarios with unemployment above 20 percent and a recession of close to 12 percent once the coronavirus pandemic has subsided. The fiscal turbulence is also expected to affect forecasts for the social security system, as the revenues of the main pension fund (e-EFKA) are expected to plummet, which means that the state will have to step in and help out. Read also Public pension funds shouldn’t wait for...

April 13, 2020
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13Apr

Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract Definition

Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts (QLACs) were first introduced in 2014 by the IRS and the Treasury Department as a way for people to use their Traditional IRAs (and some employer sponsored plans) to plan for future income needs. The goal was to have people add additional income guarantees to add to their Social Security payments. The premium funding rules for QLACs in 2020 is the lesser of 25% of your total IRA (i.e. qualified) assets or $135,000...whichever is...

April 13, 2020
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