August 2021
11Aug

How COVID-19, politics have impacted Latin America’s private pension fund industry

Assets under management held by Latin America’s private pension fund managers have trended higher, reaching US$659bn last year. Growth, albeit slower than in previous years, was eked out in 2020 amid the COVID-19 economic fallout. Nevertheless, the number of contributors fell. Read also Finland tops global pension rankings These managers – known in private pension fund trailblazer Chile as AFPs – are key drivers of economic development, typically investing in company stock, government debt and infrastructure bonds. Read also The Origins of ESG...

August 11, 2021
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June 2021
30Jun

Emerging markets face a USD 5.4 trillion-per-year shortfall in savings for sustainable retirements, says Swiss Re Institute

- Emerging markets face a USD 5.4 trillion pension savings shortfall for every year of their workers' retirements, or USD 106 trillion in cumulative terms.¹ - This gap between emerging markets' pension assets and pension income need is about USD 40,000 for every worker – about 8.5 times the average annual worker's income. Read also Namibia. President signs law that consolidate regulations of all financial institutions Latin America has a pension savings gap of USD 514 billion per year, or USD 50 000 per worker on average. Brazil has the region's highest gap due to...

June 30, 2021
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April 2021
28Apr

Latin America. What Comes After the Commodity Super Cycle and the Pandemic? Policies to Tackle Poverty and Inequality in Latin America

Latin America entered the pandemic as one of the most unequal regions in the world. And like much of the rest of the world, it will come out of the pandemic poorer and more unequal. Early estimates suggest that 19 million more people in the region have fallen into poverty and inequality increased by 5 percent compared to pre-crisis levels. Large scale public support in many countries prevented an even worse outcome, but this pushed public debt levels from...

April 28, 2021
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06Apr

The Post-Pandemic Safety Net

With the United States beset by the COVID-19 pandemic, a deep economic recession, and heightened racial tensions, many observers predicted – some in hope, others resignedly – that the 2020 elections would bring about a significant change in the country’s social contract. Fortunately, they appear to have been right. Proposals to strengthen the welfare state and social safety nets have gone mainstream – and not only in America. I argued back in May 2019 that America was ready for a...

April 6, 2021
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01Apr

Evaluation of Four Decades of Pension Privatization in Latin America, 1980-2020: Promises and Reality

By Carmelo Mesa-Lago The author of this book has published other 40 on social security since 1968, dealing with pensions, health care, and social assistance, in seven languages and in 34 countries. His new book is a product of many works in the last 30 years, which have been integrated, updated, and expanded under a new methodological framework. The book thoroughly documents the effects of the privatization of pensions in nine countries in Latin America from 1980 until the present:...

April 1, 2021
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01Apr

Latin America: A Growing Appetite for Alternative Assets

Preqin has launched its first Latin America-focused report. “Preqin Markets in Focus: Latin America’s Growing Appetite for Alternative Assets” explores the emerging market and trends paving the region’s future in the alternatives industry. With diverse challenges and opportunities unique to the economies and investors in the region, this report reveals how Latin America is leaving the global pandemic behind and expanding further into the world of alternative investments. Read also Guyana. IDB study calls for overhaul of pension system The region’s...

April 1, 2021
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February 2021
26Feb

Latin American Sovereigns Are at a Pension Reform Crossroads

Fitch Ratings-London/New York-25 February 2021: Fiscal challenges and social grievances are adding urgency to a new wave of pension reforms in Latin America that could be relevant for sovereign ratings, Fitch Ratings says in a new report. Latin America’s population is still among the world’s youngest, but it is ageing at one of the fastest paces, and its savings patterns stand out as being especially low given the coming demographic pressure. But reform efforts will face challenges after years of...

February 26, 2021
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05Feb

Latin America needs a new social contract

In mexico city and Lima covid-19 patients are once again being turned away from hospitals with no beds to spare, while in Manaus, in northern Brazil, a new variant of the virus is killing a hundred people a day. The pandemic’s recession pushed 33m Latin Americans below the $5.50-a-day poverty line last year, according to the World Bank. Governments in the region are struggling to line up vaccines. So it may seem like a strange moment to be talking...

February 5, 2021
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January 2021
01Jan

Supervising mandatory funded pension systems: issues and challenges

By Gustavo Demarco, Rafae Rofman, & Edward Whitehouse The regulation and supervision of pension funds is a critical part of building public confidence in a funded-pension system. This paper argues that confidence is best bolstered by an independent, autonomous and transparent supervision agency, particularly when previous systems had failed. The choice between proactive and reactive supervision depends on previous experience of selfregulation in a country’s financial sector. The paper examines four key areas of supervision in detail: institutional, financial, membership and...

January 1, 2021
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December 2020

11Dec

Latin America’s Lost Decades The Toll of Inequality in the Age of COVID-19

By Luis Alberto Moreno During the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, in March 2020, Guayaquil, Ecuador’s business capital of some three million people, was in trouble. By a twist of fate, more than 20,000 Ecuadorians had just returned home from their seasonal vacations. Many had come from Italy and Spain, two coronavirus hot spots, with the earliest and most deadly outbreaks of COVID-19. President Lenín Moreno understood that the threat was serious but opted, at first, not to close...

December 11, 2020
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