May 2024
09May

Swiss Parliament pushes discussion on pension funds’ cost transparency

The social security and health committee of the National Council (SGK-N), the lower house of the Swiss Parliament, has voted in favour of submitting a motion to discuss pension funds’ obligations on costs disclosure. The committee shares the view of the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO), that information on administrative costs should be easily accessible and comprehensible for the general public, it said in a statement. Only a minority of the members of the committee considers the existing rules on pension funds’...

May 9, 2024
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03May

UK. Average overall pension transfer times fall by 12.2%

The average time taken for a pension transfer to be completed reduced by 12.2% over the last 15 months, research from Origo has shown. The latest data from the fintech's Transfer Index showed from January 2023 to the end of March this year, the average time for the completion of a transfer fell from 14 to 12.3 calendar days. In addition, the time taken for simple transfers, where the provider has full control over the process, also improved by 16.7%...

May 3, 2024
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April 2024
01Apr

Portugal. Automatic Pension Scheme to be Approved

Heather Humphreys, the minister for social protection, has outlined her plan to implement the much-anticipated pension auto-enrolment programme for workers. Under the plan, businesses would match employee contributions with an additional €3, meaning that the State will contribute €1 for every €3 an employee contributes to their pension account. Workers between the ages of 23 and 60 who are not currently registered in a pension plan will be enrolled automatically. There will be a clause in the law allowing employees...

April 1, 2024
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January 2024
16Jan

Canada: Understanding Cyber Risks For Pension Plan Administrators, ACPM

As pension plans are increasingly relying on technology in their administration, there is a corresponding focus on keeping plan assets safe and protecting the rights and interests of plan beneficiaries. Pension plans involve significant amounts of confidential, personal data and assets, making them targets for criminal activity. Pension plan administrators and sponsors are expected to be prepared to recognize, prevent or minimize damage in the event of harm from cyber risks. What this means for how pension administrators discharge their...

January 16, 2024
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10Jan

Kenya. Auditor General’s Report Reveals Ksh.67B Lost Through Fake Pension Scheme Payments

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has lifted the lid on the Ksh.67 billion loss of public funds through fake payments made to pensioners whose realness is also in question. The performance report by the Auditor General on the fund shows that top civil servants manning the scheme were among others using duplicate IDs to enrol fake claimants, occasioning the loss of taxpayers' money.  Officials in the National Treasury are said to have colluded to defraud the pension fund of billions of shillings...

January 10, 2024
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November 2023
07Nov

UAE. GPSSA: Merging employment services improves retirement options

Merging previous service periods is a pivotal step to pursue in order to enhance an insured individual’s chances in obtaining a better retirement pension scheme, since it results in a continuation and extension of employment years up until the insured completes the remaining years eligible for a pension, stressed the General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA). As part of the “End it Right” campaign’s quest to ensure insured individuals receive the highest retirement pension possible, while securing their post-retirement...

November 7, 2023
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01Nov

UK: Pensions Dashboards: Connecting The Pots

For the first time, members will have information about all their pension savings, including their State Pension, in one place. Pensions Dashboards will be a catalyst for change across the pensions industry. Are you ready? At WTW, we believe a key part of Pensions Dashboards being effective and successful is ensuring that they form part of an engagement and education framework. For pension scheme trustees and sponsoring employers, there are benefits to a powerful Dashboard framework and risks associated with...

November 1, 2023
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October 2023
16Oct

Twenty arrested in Hong Kong over false document pension withdrawals amid row over UK passport

 Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency said on Friday 20 people had been arrested suspected of taking bribes to help people apply for early withdrawal of government pension funds with false documents, amid a row over new passports offered by Britain. Hong Kong pension funds have been in the spotlight since the emigration of more than 140,000 Hong Kong people to Britain after 2020 when China imposed a national security law on the former British colony, cracking down on dissent. Many of these...

October 16, 2023
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16Oct

Ghana. Total membership of SSNIT Scheme is 1.8 million — Minister

As of March 2023, the total membership of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Scheme was estimated at 1.8 million, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, the Minister of Employment, Labour Relations and Pensions, has disclosed. This, he said means that about 8.1 million of the estimated Ghana’s working population of 9.9 million might not have any form of social security cover, which shows that leveraging digitalisation to extend social security coverage was long overdue. “The overwhelming importance of digitalisation today...

October 16, 2023
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September 2023
26Sep

UK pension schemes reveal 4,000% rise in cyber security breaches

Pension scheme trustees have been urged to remain mindful of cybersecurity risks, after research from RPC revealed a 4,000 per cent increase in data breach reports to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) in the year to June 2023. The research found that UK financial services firms reported 640 cybersecurity breaches to the ICO in the year to June 30 2023, marking a threefold increase on the 187 cybersecurity breaches in the previous period. UK pension schemes reported the biggest...

September 26, 2023
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