October 2022
21Oct

Kenya. Pension-backed housing starts dimly amid calls for its overhaul

Access to affordable housing is a challenge to many public and private sector employees who retire without a home, despite having worked and saved towards a pension. One of the initiatives by the government to increase access to housing was by amending the Retirement Benefits Act (RBA) to allow pension funds to be used as collateral for the purchase of a home. The move was billed as a silver bullet in enabling civil servants and workers to own homes. And two years...

October 21, 2022
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18Oct

Returns on Kenya’s pension fund beat inflation as income surges

Kenya’s National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has paid an interest of 10% on retirement savings in the year ended June 30, 2021, up from 7% a year earlier, Business Daily newspaper reported. Read also Kenya. Pension-backed housing starts dimly amid calls for its overhaul The interest payout, considered the largest on the retirement savings in seven years, comes from a 237% rise in net investment income to 32.3 billion Shillings ($267.72 million), supported by dividends from Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firms. NSSF returns...

October 18, 2022
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September 2022
30Sep

Kenya. State to pay pension savings for 15m Jua Kali workers

The Kenya Kwanza regime has pledged to top up by half the retirement savings made by workers in the informal sector in an ambitious plan aimed at more than doubling national savings in the near term. President William Ruto said his administration will add a shilling for every Sh2 saved by workers outside the formal sector, up to Sh6,000 every year in a planned drive that targets more than 15 million workers in the Jua Kali sector. “We intend to overhaul...

September 30, 2022
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30Sep

Sustainable finance policy a ‘blind spot’ for European pension funds

Some of Europe’s biggest pension funds are not actively engaged in emerging EU-level sustainable finance policy, according to climate think tank InfluenceMap. As reported by European Pensions, the research, which covered 25 of Europe’s largest pension funds and 10 national pension fund associations, found that only four of the 25 funds and five of the 10 associations showed ‘meaningful engagement’ with sustainable finance policy. InfluenceMap stated that these findings pointed to a potential ‘blind spot’ for the industry, which has shown...

September 30, 2022
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August 2022
04Aug

Kenya. Risk-averse pension schemes bag higher returns

Pension funds that eschew risk are reaping the benefits of their conservative approach to investments, outperforming their more aggressive peers whose returns are being dented by bigger exposure to underperforming equities and offshore assets. Conservative schemes, which on average allocate over 80 percent of their assets under management to risk-free, stable yielding government securities, recorded a return of 2.9 percent in the year to June 2022, industry analysis done by fund administrator Zamara shows. Schemes with a moderate approach to investment,...

August 4, 2022
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May 2022
24May

Kenya. Pension bill goes up by Sh40bn in 10 months

Kenya’s pension bill increased by Sh39.5 billion in the 10 months to April, the sharpest growth in five years, highlighting the growing pressure on the Exchequer in paying retired civil servants. The latest data from the Treasury shows that Kenya spent Sh113.72 billion on pensions in the period under review, a 53 percent jump from Sh74.19 billion in the corresponding period last year. This is also the first time that Kenya’s expenditure on pensions in the first ten months of a...

May 24, 2022
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10May

Kenya. Reform laws on pensions to spur growth in savings

Whilst the Kenyan pension sector is the biggest in the region, we are yet to exploit its full potential as the penetration rate remains just about 20 per cent of the working class in both formal and informal sectors. Apart from the mention of the registration of The Kenya National Entrepreneurs Savings Trust (KNEST) during the 2022/2023 budget, a government-backed pension scheme for informal workers, there were no other proposals directed towards accelerating the development of the pension sector. There is...

May 10, 2022
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03May

Kenya. Cash-strapped KBC fails to remit Sh984m in pension

Cash-strapped Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) has failed to remit employee retirement benefits amounting to Sh984.3 million, underlining the deepening cash flow crisis facing the State broadcaster and signaling economic pain for its employees. The institution is struggling to honour the dues, according to a report for the year ended June 2020 submitted to lawmakers by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu. “Management attributed the delay to remit the deduction to its inability to settle its obligations as and when they fall due,” reads...

May 3, 2022
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April 2022
15Apr

Kenya. Treasury cuts pensions and gratuity cash by Sh42bn

The Treasury has cut the budget for paying retired public servants by nearly Sh42.50 billion, pointing to a growing backlog which will not be cleared by end of June. The expenditure on pensions and gratuities for the current financial year has been slashed to Sh111.14 billion from earlier estimates of Sh153.64 billion, according to fresh estimates Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has tabled in the National Assembly. This came after Mr Yatani said payroll for the public service pension was growing...

April 15, 2022
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Kenya. Pensions raise investments in offshore, private equity
12Apr

Kenya. Pensions raise investments in offshore, private equity

Pension funds have raised their offshore and private equity investments threefold in the past two years, underlining the push for income diversification from equities and property whose returns have contracted. The funds raised their offshore investments from Sh6.32 billion in 2019 to Sh19.4 billion at the end of last year, the latest industry data from the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) shows. Private equity (PE) investments meanwhile went up from Sh969 million to Sh2.96 billion in the period. While alternative investment classes...

April 12, 2022
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