February 2021
16Feb

Global retirement assets to GDP ratio hits record 80% in 2020

Total assets in the 22 largest major retirement markets reached a record 80% of GDP in 2020, up 11.2 percentage points for the year. Read also Canadian Pensions Adapt Investment Strategies for Post-COVID-19 World The Thinking Ahead Institute's latest Global Pension Assets Study, for the year ended Dec. 31, said the rise in the ratio of retirement assets to average GDP was the largest year-on-year rise since the study began in 1998. Read also International retirement, savings plans grow in popularity While this...

February 16, 2021
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16Feb

€573bn Dutch pension group appoints first female CEO

Dutch pension group APG has appointed Annette Mosman as chief executive officer, the firm has announced. Mosman will assume the role on 1 March 2021 succeeding Gerard van Olphen, who will be stepping down in April of this year for personal reasons. Mosman is a member of the board of directors and has been chief finance and risk officer since February 2018. She will also be the firm’s first female CEO. Pieter Jongstra, chairman of the supervisory board, said: ‘For the pension...

February 16, 2021
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15Feb

UK. Govt urged to conclude net pay review in Spring Budget

The government should support the retirement incomes of lower paid workers by concluding the net pay review in this year’s budget, according to Now Pensions. Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Spring 2020 Budget, released on 11 March last year, had stated that the government would “shortly publish a call for evidence on pensions tax relief administration” following the inclusion of plans for a comprehensive review of issues caused by the anomaly in the Conservative Party’s 2019 election manifesto. However, this review was paused...

February 15, 2021
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09Feb

Counter-Hegemonic Finance: The Gamestop Short Squeeze

By Usman W. Chohan The events that surrounded the short squeeze of various downtrodden stocks such as Gamestop (GME) allude to a counter-hegemonic financial effort, with small-scale investors pooling in to sabotage the short-positions of large Wall Street players such as hedge funds. This paper frames these events in terms of public reprisal for the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and public contempt for insular financial private interest. The discussion suggests that such people-power initiatives, abetted by powerful elite...

February 9, 2021
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09Feb

Ontario teachers pension fund gains $500 million by cashing in on GameStop stock rebellion

Wall Street's hedge funds are set to lose tens of billions of dollars after a mob of traders on Reddit's WallStreetBets page sent GameStop, AMC Entertainment, and other stocks skyrocketing in recent days. However, some Canadian entities are cashing in on what is being touted as the "biggest short squeeze in 25 years." Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan—the largest shareholder in U.S. mall owner Macerich Co.—reportedly sold its entire holding for nearly $500 million when the stock soared. According to...

February 9, 2021
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09Feb

US. AIG to pay New York $12M for unlicensed pension risk transfer business

American International Group (AIG), the multinational finance and insurance corporation, owes the state of New York $12 million in penalties for insurance law violations stemming from its pension risk transfer (PRT) business. Deutsche Bank to pay $150M penalty for suspicious handling of Epstein accounts Linda A. Lacewell, Superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS), announced the penalty on Monday. She said an investigation from her department revealed that a subsidiary of AIG solicited and did insurance business in New...

February 9, 2021
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05Feb

Counter-Hegemonic Finance: The Gamestop Short Squeeze

By Usman W. Chohan The events that surrounded the short squeeze of various downtrodden stocks such as Gamestop (GME) allude to a counter-hegemonic financial effort, with small-scale investors pooling in to sabotage the short-positions of large Wall Street players such as hedge funds. This paper frames these events in terms of public reprisal for the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and public contempt for insular financial private interest. The discussion suggests that such people-power initiatives, abetted by powerful elite...

February 5, 2021
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04Feb

Gulf’s pension funds can learn something from Norway

The initial set of 2020 financial results from listed companies offers an opportunity to evaluate not just their performance but the strength – or otherwise - of their operational strategies. This is due to multiple considerations, most notably the exceptional situation created by the pandemic and the challenges – and opportunities - imposed on individual economies and the global economy as a whole. What we see are some entities taking advantage of the crisis to turn in substantial profits,...

February 4, 2021
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04Feb

Ontario teachers pension fund gains $500 million by cashing in on GameStop stock rebellion

Wall Street's hedge funds are set to lose tens of billions of dollars after a mob of traders on Reddit's WallStreetBets page sent GameStop, AMC Entertainment, and other stocks skyrocketing in recent days. However, some Canadian entities are cashing in on what is being touted as the "biggest short squeeze in 25 years." Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan—the largest shareholder in U.S. mall owner Macerich Co.—reportedly sold its entire holding for nearly $500 million when the stock soared. According to...

February 4, 2021
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03Feb

US. AIG to pay New York $12M for unlicensed pension risk transfer business

American International Group (AIG), the multinational finance and insurance corporation, owes the state of New York $12 million in penalties for insurance law violations stemming from its pension risk transfer (PRT) business. Linda A. Lacewell, Superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS), announced the penalty on Monday. She said an investigation from her department revealed that a subsidiary of AIG solicited and did insurance business in New York without a license. “A DFS license offers consumers peace...

February 3, 2021
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