April 2025
04Apr

Oil spills, scandals of the past embolden ESG stance of U.N. pension fund CEO

A plastic water bottle might not prompt most people to engage in lighthearted employee ribbing, but for Pedro Guazo, the CEO of the office of investment management at the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, it did. As he watched the office's communications officer, Pilar Lagos, pull a mini water bottle out of her bag during a meeting, he remarked: “Is that,” he asked playfully, “a single-use plastic water bottle?” Sitting on top of the large conference room table was a...

April 4, 2025
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03Apr

UK. AI ‘transforming’ pensions admin; use by members remains limited

Whilst artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to play an important role in pensions administration, its adoption by individual pension scheme members remains limited, according to the Trafalgar House Trust & Confidence Index. It found that despite a growing awareness of AI-driven tools, most people were not yet using AI to support their retirement decisions. When surveyed, only 8 per cent of the population reported using AI tools for pension planning. Indeed, the "overwhelming" majority (82 per cent) indicated that they had never...

April 3, 2025
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02Apr

Nigeria’s pension assets to GDP up by 8% in 2024

Nigeria’s pension assets contribution to the country’s GDP has risen to 8 percent in 2024, from 5.6 percent in 2015. While this rise reflects a positive trend in the management of the country’s pension funds, Nigeria still lags behind the global average put at 30 percent, highlighting need for increased saving and regulatory compliance. Industry players believe that a shift towards better savings habits among Nigerians and adherence to regulatory compliance by employers at all levels would enhance contribution of the...

April 2, 2025
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March 2025
28Mar

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...

March 28, 2025
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25Mar

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...

March 25, 2025
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19Mar

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...

March 19, 2025
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19Mar

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...

March 19, 2025
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14Mar

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...

March 14, 2025
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13Mar

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...

March 13, 2025
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12Mar

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...

March 12, 2025
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