December 2022
14Dec

UK. BoE to stress test non-banks for first time after pensions turmoil

Investment funds and other non-bank financial institutions face their first 'stress test' next year to apply lessons from the near-meltdown in Britain's pension fund sector, the Bank of England (BoE) said on Tuesday. The BoE had to step in from September to buy 19.3 billion pounds ($23.75 billion) of government bonds to stabilise markets after turmoil caused by the fiscal plans of Liz Truss's short-lived government. Liability-driven investment (LDI) funds, used by pension funds to ensure their long-term payouts, struggled to...

December 14, 2022
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October 2022
11Oct

Iceland, Netherlands and Denmark have the best pensions in the world in 2022

Today, Mercer and the CFA Institute released its 14th annual Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index (MCGPI). Iceland’s retirement income system has once again topped the list, with The Netherlands and Denmark retaining second and third places respectively in the rankings. As more employers have stepped away from defined benefit (DB) plans, the study also investigates the challenges and opportunities with the global shift towards defined contribution (DC) plans where individuals bear increased financial responsibility. The MCGPI is a comprehensive...

October 11, 2022
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August 2022
25Aug

Florida State Board bans ESG considerations in managing pension plan

Florida State Board of Administration, Tallahassee, passed a resolution Tuesday that all decisions related to the investment management of the Florida Retirement System will not include ESG considerations. The trustees of the board, which oversees a total of $240.1 billion, including the $189.7 billion Florida Retirement System, are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and Attorney General Ashley Moody. A news release from Mr. DeSantis' office said the trustees passed the resolution to update the fiduciary duties...

August 25, 2022
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May 2022
24May

Why ESG reporting needs to balance ‘purpose with profit’ for real impact

ESG investing is increasingly viewed as a lever for delivering value in a turbulent world. But there is a lack of transparency around reporting and companies aren't obliged to change their business practices. Companies need to go well beyond environmental regulatory requirements and drive social impact. The flow of capital towards ESG (environmental, social and governance) oriented funds has rapidly moved from a trickle to a deluge. In the third quarter of 2021 global sustainable funds hit a record high...

May 24, 2022
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April 2022
18Apr

Argentina has too many pensioners, according to an IMF report

A recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has underlined the fact that Argentina has a larger proportion of citizens earning pensions when compared to other countries in the world. The IMF document also stressed many of those allowances were disproportionately high when compared to wages of active workers in OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, which include the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain. The report is dated March 25 and is attached to the understanding...

April 18, 2022
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March 2022

UK. Creating a sustainable retirement plan
24Mar

UK. Creating a sustainable retirement plan

ESG is becoming more commonplace within retirement strategies. Indeed, recent figures from Aviva, highlighted that an strong majority (72%) of pension savers consider such initiatives to be important when developing their long term financial plans. As such, more and more pensions schemes and businesses operating within the retirement industry are prioritising ESG above most other investment considerations. For example, the Universities Superannuation Scheme Britain’s largest pension scheme – announced plans to completely disinvest in companies involved with coal mining, tobacco...

March 24, 2022
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Mainstreaming the Trasition to a Net-Zero Economy
10Mar

Mainstreaming the Trasition to a Net-Zero Economy

By Group of Thirty The evidence that climate change is posing unprecedented risks to our livelihoods is overwhelming. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) have reached the highest levels in 800,000 years. Over the last three decades, the number of registered severe weather events has tripled. The cost of weather-related insurance losses has increased eightfold over the past decade, to an average of US$60 billion; and average uninsured losses from weather events have increased sevenfold. Still, these effects pale in significance...

March 10, 2022
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February 2022
17Feb

Global Pension Assets Study – 2022

By Thinking Ahead Institute The Global Pension Assets Study estimates global pension fund assets across 22 major pension markets (the P22). These geographies now total a record US$56.6 trillion in pension assets and account for 76% of the GDP of these economies. The study, conducted by WTW and the Thinking Ahead Institute since the 1990s, includes an analysis of the seven largest markets (the P7): Australia, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, UK and US comprise 92% of total pension assets, unchanged...

February 17, 2022
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January 2022
07Jan

UK. Expanding auto-enrolment could cost employers more, experts warn

Proposed legislation expanding auto-enrolment pensions to include thousands more employees, including younger workers and lower earners, could lead to higher costs for employers, experts have warned. A bill was introduced to Parliament yesterday (5 January) that would see the minimum age for auto-enrolment drop from 22 to 18, giving employees an extra four years of savings towards their pensions. The proposal would also scrap the £10,000 minimum earning threshold that currently triggers automatic enrolment, meaning that all workers over 18 would...

January 7, 2022
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05Jan

US. NCPERS Proposes a New Tool to Make Public Pension Plans Fiscally Sustainable

Public pensions can be made and kept sustainable for the long haul by incorporating a new tool— sustainability valuation—into funding policies and practices, according to a new study by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems. Pension systems can use sustainability valuation to monitor their fiscal status on a continuing basis, gaining insights that would enable them to identify fiscal adjustments needed to stabilize pensions long-term, the study found. The study by Michael Kahn, NCPERS director of research, delineates...

January 5, 2022
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