September 2019

Ghana Pension Funds Are Shielded From Crisis-Hit Ghana. Money Managers

Ghana’s pension funds are safe from the crisis engulfing money managers caught in the aftermath of a banking-industry cleanup. “The only way some may have been affected is if they made fixed-term investments with some of the banks that were shut down,” Hayford Attah Krufi, chief executive officer of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority, said in an interview. “But, because the government bailed out depositors, those investments are still safe.” The West African nation’s markets regulator is investigating 21...

Namibia.Pension funds’ trustees not independent

The financial regulator revealed this in their 2019 annual report, noting that there is a presence of conflict of interest in some pension funds, while the composition of certain boards of trustees was not in line with fund rules. According to Namfisa, there were 134 pension funds under their watch as of 31 December 2018, with a combined value of N$158 billion. Namfisa is mandated to regulate and supervise financial institutions as well as to ensure a safe, stable...

Government’s plan to go after pension funds could financially ruin South Africans

Analysts and opposition parties have warned against government’s plans to force pension funds to invest in bonds issued by government. In August, president Cyril Ramaphosa said that South Africa should investigate using worker pensions to finance development and infrastructure projects. “We need to discuss this matter (prescribed assets) and we need to discuss it with a view to actually saying what is it we can do to utilise the various resources in our country to generate growth in a...

It’s Going to Get Harder for Australian Pension Funds to Make Money

Australia’s pension funds will be forced to push more money into less traditional assets -- such as apartment developments and even direct lending to companies -- after the strong recent performance of equities and fixed-income left valuations lofty in public markets. That’s the assessment of investors managing money directly for, or on behalf of, the country’s A$2.9 trillion ($2 trillion) pension pool, who gathered in Hobart this week. With four out of five retirement savers in funds that have a...

South Africa. How SA Can Create a Safe and Sustainable Environment for Retirement

Socially responsible investing is a topic that still does not get the necessary attention in the retirement fund industry. This is despite the fact that Boards of Trustees and Management Committees of retirement funds have a clear fiduciary duty in this regard. Corporate failures related to a lack of proper governance have destroyed close to R800 billion in value for retirement fund members in recent times. Uncertainties related to government policies such as prescribed assets have become an additional...

Giant Norway pension fund weighs Brazil divestment over Amazon deforestation

KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund, with over US$80 billion in assets, is saying it may divest from transnational commodities traders operating in Brazil such as Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge and Cargill, if they work with producers who contribute to deforestation. KLP has $50 million in shares and loans with the firms. KLP is also reaching out to other investors to lobby them to use their financial influence to curb Amazon deforestation via supply chains. On August 28, Nordea,...

Secrets to Success in Managing a Pension Fund

How often does it happen that a public pension fund chooses someone to manage its money — and then sticks with that person for 43 years? Only one streak I know of has lasted this long. The Atlanta-based investment counseling firm Bowen, Hanes and Company Inc., run by Jay Bowen, has received national acclaim for its long tenure overseeing the Tampa Fire and Police Pension Fund. Bowen, who is both chief executive and chief investment officer of his firm,...

How the Mexican pensions sector plans to tackle a national demographic shift

As demographic shifts and technological innovations disrupt the Mexican pensions sector, industry leaders are seizing the opportunity to create a more sustainable and profitable future Linking the US with Central America, the expansive country of Mexico is the world’s 15th-largest economy and the second biggest in Latin America. Despite ongoing uncertainty surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Mexican economy has shown remarkable resilience of late, with the IMF expecting the nation to post a steady growth rate...

Top 20 pension funds’ AUM declines for first time in seven years

Assets under management (AUM) at the world's 300 largest pension funds fell in value by 0.4% to a total of US$18 trillion in 2018, in sharp contrast to an increase of 15.1% in 2017, according to the latest World 300 research from the Thinking Ahead Institute. The research, conducted in conjunction with Pensions & Investments, a leading U.S. investment newspaper, shows that the value of the top 20 pension funds' AUM fell by 1.6% in 2018, equating to 40.7%...

South Korea. Stalled reform

After 10 months of discussion, a committee on national pension reform last week suggested three options, all of which fall short of ensuring the long-term sustainability of the pension scheme, now under increasing strain. Differences in views between labor and business representatives barred the panel formed in October under the Economic, Social and Labor Council from working out a single proposal. The first option calls for freezing the income replacement rate, which is set to be lowered to 40...