December 2025

UK pension schemes ignoring climate change responsibilities

That vast majority of the UK's largest pension schemes are failing to directly engage with large investee companies on their role tackling climate change. After analysing the 16 largest pension schemes, managing over £34bn in assets, ShareAction found that only Nest and TPT Retirement Solutions directly engage with big companies on climate risks. This is despite new regulations requiring pension funds to publish policies on how they incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in their investments. It was also found that the majority...

November 2025

Enhancing Efficiency of Pension Schemes through Effective Risk Governance: A Kenyan Perspective

 By Sylvester Willys Namagwa The efficiency of pension schemes in Kenya invites elevated interest owing to the increasing pension contribution amounts and the expectation that benefits paid out of these schemes would protect members from old age poverty. The study investigates the intervening effect of risk management on the relationship between corporate governance and the efficiency of pension schemes in Kenya. The study employs panel data consisting of 896 observations from 128 schemes in a sample period from 2015 to...

Milliman analysis: Competitive pension risk transfer cost declines to 100.1% during October

Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today announced the latest results of its Milliman Pension Buyout Index (MPBI). During October, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process decreased from 100.5% to 100.1% of a plan’s accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation, or ABO). That means the estimated retiree PRT cost is now 100.1% of a plan’s ABO. During the same time period, the average annuity purchase cost across all insurers...

The Nucleus UK Retirement Confidence Index 2025

By Nucleus Retirement is one of the most significant milestones in life, yet for many people across the UK it carries as much uncertainty as it does anticipation. Our Retirement Confidence Index offers a unique, in-depth look at attitudes, expectations, and concerns surrounding retirement across the UK at different life stages. Whether you're refining your client communications or shaping your advice proposition, these insights can help you stay ahead of your clients' expectations and build deeper trust. Surveying over 4,300 UK adults,...

Mexico. Retirement Savings Consolidate Their Weight in the Economy: They Now Amount to 22% of GDP

The AmAfore 2025 meeting will take place on November 12 and 13, and its program confirms the growing prominence of retirement savings in the global conversation on investments, private credit, and infrastructure. With the participation of international leaders such as Scott Kleinman (Apollo), Michael Rees (Blue Owl), Michael Smith (Ares Credit Group), and Kirk Smith (GTCR), the event highlights Mexico’s role as a bridge between local institutional capital and major global asset managers. The presence of the AFOREs, along with Banxico, Hacienda, and CONSAR, reflects the interest in strengthening the sophistication...

Hidden in Plain Sight: Physical Risk in Asset Owners’ Portfolios

By Xinxin Wang, Jascha Lehmann, Russ Bowdrey & Lisa Eichler Corporate asset locations are a critical source of financial-risk intelligence for investors. More so when coupled with powerful overlays related to physical climate risk. MSCI’s new study, conducted in collaboration with Swiss Re Risk Data Solutions, analyzed more than 11,000 companies and 500,000 physical assets underpinning the listed-equity portfolios of 18 leading asset owners, representing USD 4 trillion in AUM. Location isn’t just geography, it’s financial risk exposed. The location of companies’...

US. Federal Guarantees Should Continue After Pension Risk Transfers

Nationally recognized ERISA attorneys Kevin O'Brien and Spencer Walters of Ivins, Phillips & Barker (IPB) have released a new white paper, "The Forgotten Promise: Why PBGC Retirement Benefit Guarantees Should Continue After Pension Risk Transfer Transactions."  Their paper challenges the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's decades-old position that retirees lose federal protection once pensions are converted to annuities – a stance the authors argue contradicts the statute, legislative history, and the PBGC's own original interpretation. The paper traces how, in 1981, the PBGC took the...

Pension funds risk 33 per cent return loss from failed climate transition: Ortec

A failed global transition to a low-carbon economy could slash pension fund returns by as much as 33 per cent in the next 25 years, according to new modeling by Ortec Finance. In the face of rising physical and transition risks tied to climate change, Ortec Finance’s managing director of climate scenarios and sustainability, Maurits van Joolingen, says the modeling captures the profound uncertainty surrounding climate change, from technology deployment to geopolitical responses, but the risks to long-term portfolio performance...

Over half of global pension holdings already exposed to physical risk

Over half (55 per cent) of global pension fund holdings are exposed to significant and active physical risks, research from MSCI and Swiss Re has found, with asset owners urged to take action now to shift from being exposed to being prepared. The survey, which analysed the portfolios of 18 of the world’s largest asset owners, found that by value, this equals 25 per cent of total equity holdings of those surveyed, with small- and mid-cap companies particularly exposed. The report...

October 2025

Ghana. SSNIT is financially viable despite past challenges – Director

Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Kwesi Afreh Biney, says his outfit is financially viable despite past challenges. According to him, the entity managing contributors’ funds pays over 257,000 pensioners each month. Mr. Biney explained that while SSNIT, as an institution, had faced hurdles in the past, it has also seized opportunities to strengthen its operations, thus making the Trust financially viable and sustainable. Speaking in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM on Thursday, October 30, ahead of...