June 2025
23Jun

CFOs rethink pensions, now embracing creative plan design and de-risking strategies

Many companies are considering changing their defined benefit (DB) plans this year, with hybrid structures and cash balance arrangements attracting increased attention, according to a recent Mercer survey of CFOs and financial executives. This appears to represent a shift in thinking about DB plans following a record number of plan terminations in recent years. According to the survey, half of CFOs do not plan to end DB plans in the near future, which Mercer said suggests they are taking a strategic approach...

June 23, 2025
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16Jun

Nigeria. ESG reform will reshape pension industry – PenOp

The Chief Executive Officer of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, Oguche Agudah, has said that the standardisation of Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting would be a game-changer for the pension industry. Agudah said this at the High-Level Roundtable in Lagos, a pre-event of the 2025 Africa Impact Summit Study Tour in Nigeria, convened by the Impact Investors Foundation, Impact Investing Ghana, GSG Impact, Alitheia Capital, and Kuramo Capital. The Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria is the trade association...

June 16, 2025
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12Jun

Half of DB Sponsors Plan to Stay in the ‘Pension Ecosystem’

Fewer defined benefit plan sponsors are considering terminating their pension funds as other risk management strategies such as plan design changes or limited risk transfers appear more attractive. Fully half of plan sponsors do not intend to terminate their DB plans, up from 36.7% in 2023 and 28.3% in 2021, according to Mercer’s 2025 CFO Survey, shared in a webinar on Wednesday. The survey is based on responses from 173 chief financial officers and senior finance executives. “A lot of the plans...

June 12, 2025
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11Jun

Energy firm CEO Appointed to Ghana’s National Planning and Pension Boards

Michael Bozumbil, Chief Executive Officer of indigenous energy firm PETROSOL, will represent Ghanaian employers on two critical national institutions following his appointment by the Ghana Employers Association. Bozumbil was sworn in as a Commissioner of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) by President John Mahama and simultaneously appointed to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Board of Trustees by Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson. The PETROSOL leader, who currently serves as First Vice President of the Ghana Employers Association,...

June 11, 2025
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10Jun

Pension funding gains, negative bond returns reshaping LDI landscape for managers

LDI managers are seeing their assets under management dip slightly as long-duration bond returns have lingered in negative territory for years, and fully funded corporate plan sponsors no longer need to add assets to their liability-hedging portfolios or are transferring assets to insurance companies. Liability-driven investing emerged as the key portfolio strategy among U.S. corporate plan sponsors who closed and/or froze their plans in the wake of the funding crisis that emerged following the dot-com recession of the early 2000s....

June 10, 2025
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06Jun

Milliman Pension Buyout Index May 2025

By Jake Pringle & Ryan Cook Estimated competitive retiree buyout cost, as a percentage of accounting liability, decreased by 140 bps from 102.5% to 101.1% during April As the pension risk transfer market continues to grow, it has become increasingly important for plan sponsors to monitor the annuity buyout market when considering a plan termination or de-risking strategy. Figure 1 illustrates retiree buyout costs with two different metrics: The red line represents only the most competitive insurers' rates from each month,...

June 6, 2025
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05Jun

Ghana. Government clears all outstanding arrears owed SSNIT – Ato Forson

The Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has assured the newly-inaugurated Board of Trustees of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) that the government has fully settled all arrears owed to the pension fund. Speaking at the official inauguration of the board in Accra, Dr Forson reaffirmed the government’s commitment to a robust and sustainable pension system, stressing that all outstanding obligations to SSNIT have been honored. “I want to assure you that the government is current on all...

June 5, 2025
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04Jun

Rising Discount Rates Push Pension Risk Transfer Costs Lower in April

Offloading retiree pension risk to an insurance company became less expensive in April, according to consulting and actuary firm Milliman, which tracks the cost of de–risking pension funds with its Milliman Pension Buyout Index. The firm estimated that in a competitive bidding process, average costs of a pension risk transfer declined to 101.1% of a plan’s accounting liabilities in April from 102.5% in March. At the same time, average annuity purchase costs among all insurers in Milliman’s index decreased to...

June 4, 2025
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May 2025
23May

Sustainability reporting on pension schemes the path forward

In an era marked by growing awareness of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, sustainability reporting has emerged as a crucial aspect for organisations, investors and stakeholders. For pension schemes, particularly, integrating sustainability into their reporting frameworks is more than just a regulatory requirement; it’s an ethical imperative that aligns with the long-term nature of their commitments to retirees and the society. Read the complete book here

May 23, 2025
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23May

Decoding Pension Funds: Sustainability Indicators for Annual Report Analysis

By Leticia Martins Medeiros, Clea Beatriz Macagnan & Rosane Seibert Pension funds' growth highlights the need to emphasize fiduciary duty and investment sustainability, considering the current and future participants' interests (priority stakeholders) and systemic risk reduction (environmental, social, economic, and governance effects). Therefore, this study builds sustainability indicators based on the interests of pension fund stakeholders. The methodology comprised five stages: the first consisted of analyzing Annual Information Reports to create a preliminary list of indicators; the second involved examining...

May 23, 2025
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