January 2022
14Jan

The Sustainable Finance Policy Tracker

By OMFIF The Sustainable Finance Policy Tracker provides a comprehensive overview of different countries’ approaches to mitigating climate risks in the financial sector. Covering 22 countries and jurisdictions, the tracker presents information on 14 areas that include regulatory and supervisory measures, climate stress testing activity, net zero strategies, green bond issuance and disclosure requirements. On the interactive map, use the drop-down menu to select indicators. Scroll over the map to view more information. On the country directory, select a country or jurisdiction to...

January 14, 2022
Books, Reports, System Sustainability, , ,
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11Jan

US. These humble Pa. county pension plans beat PSERS’ returns by keeping it simple

Money management, according to billionaire hedge-fund managers and other high-paid practitioners, is a complex science and art. But does it really have to be? Big state pension funds in states like Pennsylvania or California spend many hundreds of millions of dollars a year hiring many sophisticated advisers to bet on arcane strategies -- multiple classes of hedge funds and private equity, real estate and debt funds -- in hopes of boosting long-term profit and protecting from market downturns. Over time,...

January 11, 2022
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03Jan

Why having so much pension money became a headache for Iceland

This is one of those first world problems that we would like to have in Latin American countries: “I don’t know what to do with so much money.” Although it is a cartoon, the truth is that Iceland’s pension system, which has been listed as one of the most successful in the world, has such a gigantic amount of resources that there is now a debate in the country about what is the best way to invest those funds. With assets...

January 3, 2022
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December 2021
29Dec

Choice Overload? Participation and Asset Allocation in French Employer-Sponsored Saving Plans

By Marie Briere, James M. Poterba & Ariane Szafarz This paper employs administrative data from one of the largest plan providers in France to investigate the role of plan and default characteristics in affecting whether employees participate in the plan and whether they accept its default investment option. The dataset includes information on the saving choices of 680,392 active employees at 1,610 firms. French employers have wide discretion in structuring employee saving plans. All plans must offer medium-term investments, which...

December 29, 2021
Articles, Pension design, , ,
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29Dec

Green Finance: A Shift Towards Sustainable Economic Growth

By Bazgha Khan & Noria Farooqui Green finance refers to the financial arrangements that are specific to the utilization for projects that are environmentally sustainable or projects that adopt the aspects of global climate change. It’s to extend the level of financial flows from banking, micro-credit, insurance and investment, the public, private and not-for-profit sectors to sustainable development priorities. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has been working to align financial systems to the 2030 sustainable development agenda to direct financial flows...

December 29, 2021
Articles, Investment, , ,
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27Dec

Record returns notched in pandemic head list

A global pandemic in its second year, historically strong equity markets and a new occupant in the White House dominated headlines during the past year, while the return of inflation and regulatory and legislative changes were also among Pensions & Investments' top 10 stories of 2021. The top story this year — chosen by P&I's editors — is the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As it lagged on, a historic market recovery spurred in part by actions taken to...

December 27, 2021
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27Dec

Chinese province offers $31,000 baby loans to counter shrinking population

A Chinese province with one of the fastest-shrinking populations is rolling out special loans to encourage couples to marry and have babies, as the rapidly-aging country tries to reverse a slump in births. Jilin province in northeast China will support banks to provide up to 200,000 yuan ($31,400) of “marriage and birth consumer loans” to married couples, according to an official blueprint on policies to promote population growth. There were no details on how the government would offer support, but the...

December 27, 2021
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22Dec

Puerto Rico oversight board sues to stop new pension benefits

The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico said it filed a lawsuit to stop the local government from offering public workers billions in new retirement benefits that it says will undermine the island's long-sought plan to restructure its debt. In a statement issued Monday, the board said it had filed the suit in Puerto Rico District Court to stop the pension measures — known as Act 80, Act 81, and Act 82 — because they are being pushed...

December 22, 2021
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20Dec

Leftist millennial Gabriel Boric, that vowed to reform pensions for the poor, is elected president of Chile.

Leftist lawmaker Gabriel Boric, 35, on Sunday became Chile’s youngest-ever president on promises of installing a “welfare state” in one of the world’s most unequal countries. The former student activist only just met the required minimum age to run in the presidential race, seven years after being elected to his first political job as a member of Chile’s Chamber of Deputies. On Sunday, he prevailed over far-right rival Jose Antonio Kast, an ultra-conservative lawyer who had promised to cut taxes and...

December 20, 2021
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17Dec

U.K. offers pension trustees guidance on climate standards

The Pensions Regulator issued guidance Thursday to help U.K. pension trustees meet new standards for climate-related governance and reporting of both risks and opportunities. Part of trustees' responsibility is making sure that the external advice they get is relevant and competent, the regulator said in a news release. "We recognize that the governance and reporting of climate-related risk is relatively new, so trustees may be more reliant on external experts while they build their scheme's capability in this area," said David...

December 17, 2021
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