April 2022
22Apr

UK. TPR issues Contribution Notice following “inappropriate” management buy-out

Scharf AG, a German mining equipment business, has received a notice from TPR to contribute just over £2m to the pension scheme of its former subsidiary. This blog post will be relevant if you are considering corporate transactions and operate a DB pension scheme in the UK. This case shows the importance of taking specialist advice on TPR’s wide powers to protect pension savers. Background In 2013, Scharf sold a UK subsidiary business (the Dosco Group, which was a manufacturer and supplier...

April 22, 2022
News, ,
Read more...
20Apr

Ghana. Access to pension benefits now easier – NPRA

The Chief Executive Officer of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority, (NPRA), Hayford Attah-Krufi, has stated that pensioners do not need lawyers to access their pension benefits after retirement. Mr Attah-Krufi said the days when pensioners had to go through severe struggle to access their benefits were over as pragmatic measures had been put in place for pensioners to access their benefits at ease. He said the authority had directed the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to fast-track the claim...

April 20, 2022
News, , ,
Read more...
18Apr

US. Labor Department announces new ERISA Advisory Council members

The Department of Labor on Friday appointed seven members to its ERISA Advisory Council. It also announced that Peter Wiedenbeck, the Joseph H. Zumbalen professor of the law of property at Washington University School of Law, will serve as chairman of the 15-member council in 2022. Megan Broderick, senior director for global retirement and financial well-being at PepsiCo., will serve as vice chairwoman, according to a Labor Department news release. The council's new appointees, who will each serve three-year terms, are: ...

April 18, 2022
News, ,
Read more...
15Apr

Swedish regulator to screen funds for ‘green painting’

Sweden's financial regulator said it will start reviewing funds to enforce new sustainable regulations and to prevent "green painting." The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, or Finansinspektionen, said it will review "whether the information provided about the funds that are classified as most sustainable meets the strict requirements" of sustainable finance disclosure regulation rules implemented in March 2021. In a notice on its website Tuesday, FI said that as demand for green and sustainable funds increases rapidly, "this entails the risk of...

April 15, 2022
News, Slider, , , , ,
Read more...
11Apr

The Danish Pension System: Design, Performance, and Challenges

By Andersen, Hougaard Jensen & Rangvid The need for pension reform is widely discussed against the backdrop of falling fertility rates and rising longevity. These developments challenge pension systems which in many countries already encounter problems with pension adequacy and financial sustainability. In the debate, reference is often made to Denmark as a model for pension system reform. This book offers the first coherent and in-depth description and analysis of the Danish pension system; its structure and performance. As is well-known to...

April 11, 2022
Books, System Characterization, System Sustainability, , , , ,
Read more...
ESG and Private Market Assets: Pension and Insurance Investors Shifting the Trillions (2022 – 2026)
07Apr

ESG and Private Market Assets: Pension and Insurance Investors Shifting the Trillions (2022 – 2026)

By M. Nicolas J. Firzli, Nick Sherry & Guan Seng Khoo The co-authors of the article, are amongst the original coiners of term such as “infrastructure as an asset class” and “pension superpowers.” They also predicted, at the onset of the Covid Crisis, that a “historic realignment on the asset allocation front is happening precisely at the moment when ESG is moving centre stage: even in once staunchly neoliberal jurisdictions like Texas, Alaska or Switzerland, the smart money is betting...

April 7, 2022
Articles, Investment, Pension Management, , ,
Read more...
Nigeria. PenCom to fine PFAs over pensioners’ delayed payment, others
05Apr

Nigeria. PenCom to fine PFAs over pensioners’ delayed payment, others

The National Pension Commission has vowed to sanction Pension Fund Administrators over the spate of delays in the payment of pension benefits, among other related infractions. The commission stated this in its ‘Revised regulation on the administration of retirement and terminal benefits.’ “A PFA that fails neglects or refuses to enlighten the retiree on the features of Programmed Withdrawal and Retiree Life Annuity to enable the retiree to make an informed decision shall be liable for an administrative sanction of N500,000,”...

April 5, 2022
News, ,
Read more...
UK. How to prepare for the Pension Schemes Act
05Apr

UK. How to prepare for the Pension Schemes Act

New pension regulations will come into force this year. What will they mean for trustees, employers and savers? Further provisions of the Pension Schemes Act 2021 are set to come into force in 2022, aimed at protecting the retirement funds of savers in defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. What will this mean for trustees, employers and savers, and how can they prepare? The new notifiable events regime is the most pressing agenda item for scheme trustees and employers in their role...

April 5, 2022
News, ,
Read more...

March 2022
30Mar

US. House passes SECURE 2.0 bill

The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan retirement security bill in a 414-5 vote. Read also US. SEC takes ‘monumental’ step on climate disclosure The Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022, introduced by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., and ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas, builds on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, known as the SECURE Act, which Congress passed and was signed into law in late 2019. Read also US. Saving for retirement...

March 30, 2022
News, ,
Read more...
29Mar

UK. Opperman calls for industry input on CDC expansion

Pensions minister Guy Opperman has called on the industry to work with government on expanding the nascent collective defined contribution market, though experts have previously warned that draft regulations are too strict to allow for real growth in the sector. Speaking at a Royal Society of Arts CDC forum on March 28, Opperman expanded on the draft regulations due to come into force on August 1, and expressed his support for the expansion of CDC beyond the single-employer arrangements currently...

March 29, 2022
News, , ,
Read more...