March 2025

BlackRock Targets Pension Funds in Growth Strategy for Brazil

BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, is in talks with Brazilian pension funds to expand further into the 2.9 trillion-real ($510 billion) industry. “Today, we don’t have a mandate to manage money from pension funds locally in Brazil,” Bruno Barino, who took over as BlackRock’s Brazil country manager in October, said in an interview. “But it’s a natural evolution; there is no way to be in this market and not do it.” With $11.6 trillion in assets under management, BlackRock...

UK. Industry reliance on outdated technology could risk ‘stifling’ engagement

Many pension providers are still relying on outdated technology, with nearly half (41 per cent) still posting out letters, despite UK workplace pension savers wanting better digital tools to connect with their pensions, research from Bravura has revealed. The survey also found that 75 per cent of members don't have access to retirement income estimators, savings calculators or retirement goal trackers, despite savers naming all three of these technologies as their preferred tools for retirement planning. In addition to this, just...

U.S. pension risk transfer volume tops $50 billion in 2024, just short of 2022 record

U.S. pension risk transfer volume topped $50 billion in 2024, just shy of the record-setting volume two years earlier, according to a survey from LIMRA. Total dollar volume for pension buyout and buy-in transactions for the year ended Dec. 31 was $51.8 billion, up 14% from 2023. Of that total, LIMRA recorded $48.1 billion in buyout sales and $3.7 billion in buyout sales in 2024. Fourth-quarter volume totaled $12 billion, down 4% from the year-earlier quarter, but volume totals of $14.6...

Kuwait pension fund’s $1 billion corruption lawsuit begins in UK court

Kuwait's public pension fund accused asset manager Man Group, Swiss bank EFG and others of laundering bribes paid to its late director as a year-long $1 billion trial began at London's High Court on Monday. The Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS), which operates Kuwait's social security and pension scheme, is suing the estate of Fahad Al Rajaan, its director from 1984 to 2014. Al Rajaan was in 2016 convicted in his absence of corruption and embezzling public money in Kuwait and died in...

2024 financial services monitor know better do better

By Old Mutual The key objective of the Old Mutual Financial Services Monitor is to provide a deep understanding of the working Ghanaian market, uncovering financial attitudes, perceptions, and behaviour in the informal and formal sectors. What makes Old Mutual’s Financial Services Monitor unique, is that its core objective is to support Old Mutual’s drive to champion the financial well-being of Ghanaians. This is aligned to Old Mutual’s overall purpose of becoming our customers’ first choice to sustain, grow and protect...

US. Corporate Pension Funding Ratios Decline Amid Weak Market Returns

  Corporate pension plans over the past year have seen their funding surpluses increase significantly, as strong market returns and heightened interest rates consistently improved the health of corporate pension finances. However, in February, corporate pension funding ratios declined, a result of both weak equity returns and an increase in the value of pension plan liabilities, breaking a three-to-four-month streak of month-over-month increases. Funded Status Declines Investment consultant Wilshire estimated that the funded status of corporate U.S. pension plans in the S&P 500...

South Africa . Ramaphosa assures MPs pension funds used to invest in infrastructure will be protected

President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured MPs that the funds of pensioners that will be used to invest in infrastructure will be protected and safeguarded. He said that amendments to pension fund legislation and regulations had created room for these investments to be made into the country’s infrastructure. Ramaphosa was responding to oral questions in the National Assembly on issues around growing the economy. "They are not state resources. To facilitate in infrastructure investment, government needs to provide those savers with a reasonable...

US stock market meltdown hits UK pensions as Donald Trump’s tariffs spark panic

US shares have continued to fall as investors fear Donald Trump's trade wars will cause huge damage to the American economy. The decline in the value of US-based businesses will hit millions of people with savings in pension funds in countries such as the UK as well as across America. This is because many funds from across the world are invested at least partly in the US. The NASDAQ market, which has a particular focus on technology stocks, has fallen...

Switzerland raises concerns over handing pension fund management to US banks

For all intents and purposes, the funds appear to have been well-placed, yielding a return of 7.33% last year, thanks to positions in bonds, equities, oil and gold. Compenswiss, an independent public body that manages the assets (46.1 billion Swiss francs, or 48.9 billion euros) of Swiss social security insurers, has been pleased. "At the end of 2024, all asset classes were clearly in positive territory," said institution director Eric Breval three weeks ago, while presenting its annual results....

Canada’s biggest pension fund calls for economic diversification as tariffs hit

Canada must diversify its economy and position itself as more competitive on the global stage if tariffs promised by U.S. President Donald Trump take effect, Canada's biggest pension fund said on Tuesday. Edwin Cass, chief investment officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said his country's economy was "tied at the hip" to the U.S. after Trump said on Monday 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico would go into effect almost immediately. "One of the things we obviously should have been doing...