August 2020

27Aug

European pension funds increasingly take ESG into account – Mercer

An increasing percentage of European pension funds are now taking climate-change risk into account when it comes to investment allocations, with awareness of ESG-related risks also on the rise. Read also Greece. Wave of Pension Applications Swamp Overwhelmed Greek System Consultant Mercer's latest European asset allocation insights survey found that 54% of respondents actively consider the impact of climate change-related risks on their investments, up from 14% in a 2019 survey. Read also UK. Taking action on climate risk: improving...

August 27, 2020
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27Aug

South Africa. Govt won’t force pensions to be invested in infrastructure projects, says deputy fin minister

- Government does not intend to force pensions to be invested in certain assets, says Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo. - Amendments to regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act is purely to broaden the scope of investments trustees of funds can consider, he said. - Masondo says trustees have a fiduciary duty to deliver better returns to members of funds. Government has no intention of forcing pension funds to invest in specified projects or assets which...

August 27, 2020
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26Aug

Zamara to manage Malawi public service pension fund

Pension fund administrator Zamara Group has inked a deal to manage the Malawi public service pension fund. Zamara Group, which manages Sh300 billion pension funds for 170,000 Kenyans and operates in six other African countries said it would replicate its Kenyan model in Malawi. Zamara acquired a majority stake in a pension fund administration business in Malawi last year called Axis Pensions, a business which had been in operations for more than eight years. “We see great scope in...

August 26, 2020
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24Aug

UK. Why we’re largely a nation of ‘no clues’ on pensions

Alarm bells are ringing again after further dark news about pension saving in the UK. A lack of planning, a lack of knowledge, and just not getting around to thinking about pensions means that even those who are saving into a workplace or personal pension are still doing so passively. We save according to the legal minimums required, rather than asking ourselves the crucial question: how much will I need, and how much must I save right now,...

August 24, 2020
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20Aug

Pension Giant Says Radical Post-Covid Changes to Hit Investments

Canada’s largest pension fund says some of the “radical changes” in consumer behaviors enforced during the pandemic lockdown are here to stay. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s thought leadership lab sees permanent changes to consumer behavior as a result of the global pandemic. The era after Covid-19 will be defined by wider adoption of e-commerce among older consumers, as well as by long-term impacts on health-care and privacy policy, all of which will impact investment portfolios, it says....

August 20, 2020
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19Aug

South Africa. Enoch Godongwana: Prescribed assets won’t be used to bailout struggling SOEs

RYK VAN NIEKERK: The contentious issue of prescribed assets was a prominent topic of discussion during an ANC webinar on Monday night regarding the party’s economic policy. During the webinar Enoch Godongwana, the head of the ANC’S economic transformation subcommittee, strongly denied that proposed changes to Regulation 28 are aimed to force pension funds to bail out struggling state-owned enterprises, or to fund a state-owned bank. Enoch Godongwana is on the line. Enoch, thank you so much for joining...

August 19, 2020
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19Aug

Kenya. Urgent: Protect pension funds

How safe is your pension? I think Kenyans who contribute money to individual pension schemes are badly exposed. Last week, a whistle-blower, who is an employee of a leading pensions administrator, visited my office, where he proceeded to dump a heap of documents including multi-year audited accounts, balances of member contributions and statements of individual contributors. The whistle-blower’s intention was to show me how the directors of the company had devised clever schemes to steal hard-earned savings of unwitting...

August 19, 2020
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18Aug

World’s largest sovereign wealth fund reports $21 billion loss after ‘volatile’ first half of the year

Norway’s huge pension fund — the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world — reported negative returns for the first half of the year on Tuesday, citing “major fluctuations” in equity markets. Read also Canada Pension Plan Returns 5.6% in First Quarter The Government Pension Fund Global said it returned -3.4% for the first six months of 2020, equivalent to -188 billion kroner (-$21.3 billion). Read also MetLife Board Dodges Lawsuit Over $500 Million Annuity Error “There were major fluctuations in...

August 18, 2020
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18Aug

Verod takes on Nigerian pensions operator

AXA Mansard Pension is the latest in a series of Nigerian investments by Verod Capital Management. West African private equity investor Verod Capital Management has taken over Nigerian pension administrator AXA Mansard Pension, following other investments made in the country’s financial services sector by Verod in recent years. AXA Mansard Pension operates saving accounts and pension funds on behalf of private and public sector employees, with the deal subject to regulatory approval by the National Pension Commission. Formerly known...

August 18, 2020
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14Aug

US. Massive 401(k) Suit Settlement Struck

In a remarkably short period, an excessive fee suit involving proprietary funds has settled for what may be the largest monetary settlement among those cases to date. The suit—filed on Feb. 15, 2019 by plaintiff (and former McKinsey plan participant) Tushar Bhatia against McKinsey and MIO (MIO Partners, Inc., a subsidiary of McKinsey)—asserted claims for breach of fiduciary duty, prohibited transactions, and equitable restitution under ERISA. More specifically, he alleged that McKinsey adopted certain in-house funds for the...

August 14, 2020
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