September 2020

21Sep

UK. Platform giants join firms in pension switching call

latform giants Hargreaves Lansdown and Aegon are among 67 firms to join an initiative calling for greater standards in pension switching. The partnership between Criterion and TeX, under the brand of Star, is working on a transfers & re-registration initiative which it hopes will shape "recognised, industry-wide standards to promote good practice in transfers". Fidelity and Standard Life have also petitioned their fund groups to support the campaign. Andrew Marker, chairman of the Star steering group and...

September 21, 2020
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15Sep

MetLife to Face Appeal of Suit Over $500 Million Annuity Error

A group of MetLife Inc. investors will ask Delaware’s top court to revive oversight claims over the insurer’s practice of downplaying its liabilities by counting pensioners as dead if they didn’t respond to its letters, instead of consulting official records. The lawsuit, dismissed by a Chancery Court judge in August, concerned MetLife’s “pension risk transfer” operations, a long-running business line that involves managing pension obligations for employers. The insurer for decades based its annuity payments on letters sent to...

September 15, 2020
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14Sep

S. Korea’s state pensions to face steep shortfall in 20 yrs: report

South Korea’s state-managed pension and insurance funds may dry up earlier than expected, suggesting the need of dramatic changes to cope with demographic trends and funding shortfalls in the foreseeable future, a government report projected. According to the fiscal outlook report for 2020-2060 by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, state-run National Pension Service, the world’s third largest pension fund, is estimated to return to a net loss by 2040 if conditions remain unchanged from now. The analysis projects...

September 14, 2020
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11Sep

One of Sweden’s Biggest Investors Starts ESG Pressure Campaign

Alecta, a Swedish pension fund with about $110 billion under management, wants to take active investing to a new level to force the companies it owns to be more ethical. Carina Silberg, who runs a newly merged corporate governance and sustainability unit at Alecta, says her team is bringing in reams of data to figure out exactly what portfolio companies are doing when it comes to environmental, social and governance standards. If “large gaps” are identified, “targeted action” follows, she...

September 11, 2020
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04Sep

Norway Pension Giant Drops Three Companies over Alleged Human Rights Violations

Norway’s $1.17 trillion Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) said it is excluding three companies from the fund because of an “unacceptable risk for violation of human rights.” They are Taiwan-based Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. and its subsidiary Formosa Taffeta, as well as Indian textiles company Page Industries. Norway’s central bank, Norges Bank, which manages the country’s sovereign wealth fund, made the decision based on the recommendations of its Council on Ethics. The council also recommended that the fund...

September 4, 2020
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03Sep

Pensions Need a ‘Safety Valve,’ Says JPMorgan

Pensions entered the Covid-19 pandemic significantly exposed to corporate credit risk, relying on a traditional investment strategy that may be heading for failure, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s asset management group. They’ve been hedging the volatility of their pension liabilities by taking on “a very concentrated exposure to corporate credit,” Jared Gross, the head of institutional portfolio strategy at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, said in a phone interview. Largely holding corporate bonds at risk of being downgraded...

September 3, 2020
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August 2020

28Aug

US. The Future for ESG Investing in Retirement Plans

The department of labor (DOL)’S proposed rule on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment practices, published in June, intended to add clarity to years of obscure regulatory guidance. Instead, it’s created a layer of complexity among fiduciaries and has fueled more than 1,000 critical comments. The proposed regulation restates that plan sponsors in defined contribution (DC) plans cannot disregard financial approaches in an effort to pursue ESG-related considerations without violating their fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security...

August 28, 2020
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27Aug

European pension funds increasingly take ESG into account – Mercer

An increasing percentage of European pension funds are now taking climate-change risk into account when it comes to investment allocations, with awareness of ESG-related risks also on the rise. Read also Greece. Wave of Pension Applications Swamp Overwhelmed Greek System Consultant Mercer's latest European asset allocation insights survey found that 54% of respondents actively consider the impact of climate change-related risks on their investments, up from 14% in a 2019 survey. Read also UK. Taking action on climate risk: improving...

August 27, 2020
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27Aug

South Africa. Govt won’t force pensions to be invested in infrastructure projects, says deputy fin minister

- Government does not intend to force pensions to be invested in certain assets, says Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo. - Amendments to regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act is purely to broaden the scope of investments trustees of funds can consider, he said. - Masondo says trustees have a fiduciary duty to deliver better returns to members of funds. Government has no intention of forcing pension funds to invest in specified projects or assets which...

August 27, 2020
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26Aug

Zamara to manage Malawi public service pension fund

Pension fund administrator Zamara Group has inked a deal to manage the Malawi public service pension fund. Zamara Group, which manages Sh300 billion pension funds for 170,000 Kenyans and operates in six other African countries said it would replicate its Kenyan model in Malawi. Zamara acquired a majority stake in a pension fund administration business in Malawi last year called Axis Pensions, a business which had been in operations for more than eight years. “We see great scope in...

August 26, 2020
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