December 2020

18Dec

400 000 Finnish pensioners to receive extra pension in December by mistake

In Finland, the government agency responsible for public sector pensions has made a mistake and sent for payment January pensions in December, amounting to over 400 million euros, Finnish public broadcaster YLE reports. Keva, the agency responsible for managing municipal pensions in Finland, has noticed on Wednesday, December 16, that it has accidentally made payments to about 400,000 people a month too early. «It was noticed this morning that the municipal pensions were paid out ahead of schedule due...

December 18, 2020
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08Dec

Covid-19 poses long-term threat to pension savings – OECD

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the risk that people will not be able to save enough for their retirement, according to a new OECD study. Read also FinTech In The Time Of COVID: What Financial Services Companies Need To Know The economic impact of the crisis and the shutdowns that many countries have adopted in an effort to halt the spread of the virus has affected the ability of workers and their employers to contribute to private retirement plans, the...

December 8, 2020
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November 2020

23Nov

Chile’s President Pinera seeks Constitutional Court help to head off pensions bill

Pinera said the legislation was unconstitutional since it implied a cost to the public purse that can only determined by the executive, and posed a “grave risk” to the future pensions of Chileans as well as offering another tax-free windfall to higher-income individuals who did not need it. Read also Chile’s famed pensions system faces an existential crisis “All authorities, and especially the president of the republic, have to be sensitive to the needs of citizens, and also responsible over...

November 23, 2020
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19Nov

Pension transparency needs a benchmark

viaIn a first formal collaboration, Top1000funds.com and CEM Benchmarking have teamed up to develop the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark (GPTB). The GPTB establishes a new global benchmark that brings a focus to transparency in a bid to improve pension outcomes for members. Transparency, or lack of it around costs and other issues, has been a problem area for pension funds over many years, and in the industry there is room for improvement in this area. Transparency is a positive...

November 19, 2020
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19Nov

Australia. 12% superannuation hangs in the balance

The federal government will release the findings of its review into retirement incomes on Friday. Amongst other things, the review is believed to support a recent warning from Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe that the legislated increase in the superannuation guarantee (SG) will reduce wages and economic growth. The SG is slated to rise from 9.5% to 10% in mid-2021, but the government is set to delay a decision on proceeding with this increase until it hands down the...

November 19, 2020
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18Nov

Pensions Post-Covid

While the UK and much of Europe has re-entered lockdown, the prospect of a coronavirus vaccine and a new President in the White House have boosted investor confidence as well as the value of pension pots linked to the stock market. This year’s events have had a deep impact on household finances in the UK, but have they made permanent changes to retirement plans? The official data paints a mixed picture, and advisers say that while there has been...

November 18, 2020
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17Nov

Here Are the World’s Biggest Asset Owners

The top 100 asset owners controlled $20.1 trillion in global assets at the end of 2019 — a 6 percent jump from the year before, according to a new annual ranking. In its annual Top 100 Asset Owners study, published Monday, consultant Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Institute reported that by itself, Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund weighs in at nearly $1.6 trillion in assets. That fund, the government pension system of Norway, and China’s sovereign wealth fund...

November 17, 2020
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17Nov

Canada public pension managers questioned on U.S. fossil fuel investments

Public-sector pension plan managers in Canada are being asked to explain their investments in an energy company building a new fossil fuel facility on the West Coast. The US$310-million liquefied natural gas facility, called Tacoma LNG, is being built at the Port of Tacoma by Puget Sound Energy (PSE), a utility in the state of Washington, and is expected to be completed next year. Proponents of the facility, like the utility, the port and a union working on the...

November 17, 2020
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12Nov

Pension funds and corporates could save the world

Big institutional investors such as pension and sovereign wealth funds, as well as corporate clean energy buyers must come on board to drive the investment levels needed to stave off catastrophic global heating, according to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The Global Landscape of Renewable Energy Finance 2020 study published yesterday states institutional investors sitting on an estimated $87 trillion of global assets supplied only 2% of investment for renewables in 2017 and 2018. Although...

November 12, 2020
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October 2020

21Oct

Pandemic puts pressure on global pensions

The combination of low interest rates, a pandemic-ravaged global economy and reduced investment returns are straining pension systems, according to an annual survey. Covid-19 has also exacerbated gender inequality in pensions, the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index says. Women already retired with less money than men, and the pandemic’s effect on the hospitality and food services sectors, where women are overrepresented, will add to the gap. Canada’s pension systems held at ninth overall in the 2020 study with...

October 21, 2020
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