January 2021

19Jan

UK. Cushon unveils net-zero pension plan

Cushon, the fintech workplace savings disrupter, today announces that it has launched the world’s first net zero pension. Cushon’s pension is the first of its kind in that it is Net Zero now - not later - unlike competitors in the market who have long-reaching targets to achieve the same by 2030 or even 2050. The fund will have a management fee of just 0.15%, while offering highly competitive returns without sacrificing performance. Cushon’s Net Zero pension will enable...

January 19, 2021
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15Jan

UK Asset Owners and Managers to Form Sustainability Alliance

How can pension plans and financial managers boost sustainable investing? By forming a group to do so. Read also U.K. government cuts administration fees for smallest DC pots British asset owners and managers are forging an alliance with that in mind. It’s in response to greater calls from regulators in the country to further the fight against climate change and promote other societal goals. Read also U.K. corporate funds finish 2020 with increased deficits The steering group that convened this week...

January 15, 2021
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14Jan

U.K. government cuts administration fees for smallest DC pots

U.K. defined contribution plans with £100 ($136) in assets or less will be exempt from paying administration fees, the government said Wednesday. A consultation into fee cap rules aimed at protecting automatically enrolled plan participants from paying high fees resulted in the government keeping the fee cap at its current level set at 0.75% of assets under management and administration. The consultation was launched in June. However, due to additional concerns raised by respondents to the consultation around the...

January 14, 2021
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14Jan

UK. Retirees at risk of draining pension pots dry

Three-quarters of pensioners could run out of cash with a decade of retirement left. Older savers risk running out of money and being forced to rely on just the state pension during the last 10 years of their life, according to a study. Nearly six years on from the introduction of pension freedoms rules that gave savers more independence over how they take their retirement pots, research by pension provider The People’s Pension suggests some people are spending their...

January 14, 2021
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13Jan

U.K. corporate funds finish 2020 with increased deficits

The total deficit of U.K. defined benefit funds covered by the Pension Protection Fund's 7800 index increased 9.6% in December, to £86.4 billion ($117.3 billion). The deficit was £78.8 billion at the end of November. Deficits also worsened for the year ended Dec. 31, from £10.9 billion, said an update Tuesday by the London-based PPF. The PPF is the lifeboat fund for the defined benefit plans of insolvent U.K. companies. The funding ratio of the corporate pension plans worsened...

January 13, 2021
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13Jan

European regulators issue Brexit relief for UK pension funds

Four sources say European Union national regulators are allowing banks to continue exempting over-the-counter derivative trades with UK pension funds from mandatory clearing requirements, despite UK funds technically losing the exemption on December 31. “I believe various European banks have had regulatory clearance from their respective regulators to continue trading under this [exemption],” says a senior trader at a UK pension fund. Read more @Risk

January 13, 2021
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12Jan

Pensions and investments could be tapped for £800m in UK’s dormant assets

Up to £800m in pensions and investments assets could be unlocked following a major expansion of the UK's ‘Dormant Assets Scheme', the government announced this morning. Assets held via vehicles including savings endowments, investment bonds and income drawdown will be made available for a range of UK projects through the scheme. According to governement data, over £745m has already been distributed to a variety of causes using dormant assets held in banks and building societies. A crucial change for...

January 12, 2021
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11Jan

UK. Nest plans bold expansion into private markets

Nest, one of the UK’s largest workplace pension schemes with 10m members, is planning an aggressive push into private markets which could “comfortably” exceed a fifth of its entire £13bn investment portfolio. Nest has about 9 per cent in private markets, including 6 per cent in private credit, with the remainder in direct commercial real estate. By the first quarter of next year, it aims to raise its private market holdings to about 15 per cent by expanding its...

January 11, 2021
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08Jan

UK. ‘We didn’t want our pensions invested in anything that was causing harm’

Roy and Becky Francomb from East Sussex recently decided they wanted to move their bank accounts to somewhere more ethical. Photograph: Roy Francomb Lots of people have started 2021 with the aim of making green lifestyle changes such as going vegan or giving up flying. But arguably the most powerful environmental changes you can make as an individual involve your finances, whether it’s the cash in your current account or the money you are saving for retirement. Research issued this week by...

January 8, 2021
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08Jan

Pensions Imperilled: The Political Economy of Private Pensions Provision in the UK

By Craig Berry Private pensions provision in the UK is in crisis, yet it is not the crisis often depicted in political and popular discourses. While population ageing has affected traditional pensions practice, the imperilment of UK pensions is due in fact to the peculiar way policy-makers have responded to wider social and economic change. Pensions are a mechanism for managing failed futures, yet this function is being impeded by the individualization of provision. This book offers a political economy...

January 8, 2021
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