August 2020

24Aug

Australia. Challenger launches floating rate annuity

Challenger is launching a guaranteed floating rate lifetime annuity, with payments linked to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cash rate. The new annuity would provide investors with guaranteed payments that moved with the RBA cash rate, allowing them to not miss out when the rate rises again. Angela Murphy, chief executive of distribution, product and marketing at Challenger, said the option maintained substantial estate and withdrawal benefits, and could improve Age Pension eligibility and outcomes. “This is a...

August 24, 2020
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14Aug

Insights on Financial Services Regulation

By John A Consiglio The debates around financial services regulation are fierce and unending, and with every new development or law, rigid positions seem to grow. In this insightful new book, expert author John A. Consiglio discusses developments in this vital part of the wide world of finance. Including discussions on the public interest elements of regulation, on informational asymmetry, and on the economist/regulator duopoly, Consiglio analyses various key contentious element of regulatory practices from both the regulators' and...

August 14, 2020
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14Aug

EIOPA finalises the regulation of the pan-European Personal Pension Product

Today the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) delivered to the European Commission a set of draft Regulatory and Implementing Technical Standards and its advice on Delegated Acts to implement the framework for the design and delivery of the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP). Read also Chilean Central Bank Measures Reduce Banks’ Risks from Pension Withdrawal EIOPA’s proposed legal instruments follow the objective to unlock the potential of the European personal pension market by setting the right incentives for...

August 14, 2020
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13Aug

Risks That Can Derail Retirement

The day you retire, a weight on your shoulders seems to remove itself as you no longer need to work to survive. The years of punching a clock, worrying about losing a job and making uncomfortable small talk with that guy from accounting are over. But, among the bliss that is your 20-year vacation, there is a list of risks that retired individuals face more now than when they were working. Economic risks These may feel obvious to some....

August 13, 2020
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06Aug

Kenya launches contributory pension scheme for government workers

Kenya launched a contributory pension scheme for hundreds of thousands of government workers on Wednesday, to prevent a crisis in the government’s finances from growing retirement obligations. The East African nation, which is facing reduced tax revenue due to the coronavirus crisis and ballooning debt repayments, has been spending 2.9% of its annual budget on pensions payments, the ministry of finance said, in a plan that does not involve contributions by individual workers. Read also Nigeria. Operators invest N55.25bn...

August 6, 2020
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July 2020

27Jul

Gig and older workers need to take control of their retirement

Several retirement trends have been brought into focus by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most disturbing is the number of workers between 50 and 65 who are in jobs without retirement benefits. Today half of all workers don’t have access to a work sponsored retirement plan. Read also US. DOL’S ESG proposal would hurt retirement accounts According to a recent study by Alicia H. Munnell and her colleagues at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, one-fifth of...

July 27, 2020
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24Jul

US. COVID-19 Underscores Need to Address Retirement Savings Gaps

Addressing the 2020 NAPA D.C. Fly-In Forum this week, two members of the House Ways & Means Committee shared their thoughts on how the economic stress caused by the pandemic has shined a spotlight on the need to better align retirement savings incentives. “I actually believe, long term, the biggest issue for the United States is retirement security,” noted Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ). “If you look at the U.S. demographics, we have so many of our Baby Boom...

July 24, 2020
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15Jul

US. Post-pandemic Retirement: Can We Build More Resilient Systems?

Reforming retirement systems is a more urgent imperative globally as the coronavirus pandemic claims jobs, lowers economic growth and investment returns, and threatens to choke funding for already underfunded pension plans. The pandemic is also hastening the imminent insolvency of the Social Security Trust Fund in the U.S., a recent report by the Penn Wharton Budget Model has found. In two recession scenarios the report laid out, the trust fund would run out of money in 2032 or 2034...

July 15, 2020
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June 2020

17Jun

Netherlands moves closer to defined contribution system

The Dutch cabinet moved closer to a new agreement with employers, employees and unions that will see the country phase-out defined benefit arrangements by 2026. Following an initial "in principle" agreement in June 2019, talks over a new retirement legislation progressed on June 12 toward a new mandatory defined contribution system. The details of the system will be outlined in new legislation, which is expected to be in place by January 2022. The new legislation is expected to state...

June 17, 2020
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May 2020

28May

Bitwage and Gemini Partner to Launch Bitcoin-Based Retirement Plan for Employees

Cryptocurrency payroll service Bitwage has announced the launch of a Bitcoin 401 (k) plan, allowing companies to give their employees a BTC-based retirement plan. In a press statement, Bitwage, which claims to have tested the product on its own employees for 10 months, said workers now have the ability to invest their pre-tax and post-tax dollars in BTC, through their employer. A 401(k) is a retirement plan that allows employees of a company to save and invest for retirement...

May 28, 2020
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