January 2020

28Jan

UK. DWP publishes expat pension guidance ahead of Brexit

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that the UK state pension will be protected by the Withdrawal Agreement in new guidance examining the rights for UK nationals after the UK has left the EU. The guidance confirmed that UK nationals living in an EEA state or Switzerland by 31 December 2020 will be covered by the Withdrawal Agreement. The UK state pension will be uprated every year that an individual continues to live there, regardless of...

January 28, 2020
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27Jan

UK Pension Fund Brunel to Firms, Asset Managers: Tackle Climate or We’ll Drop You

Companies and asset managers must show progress towards climate goals by 2022, Brunel Pension Partnership, one of Britain's biggest pension fund managers, said on Monday, or the fund will withdraw its investment. Policymakers such as outgoing Bank of England Governor Mark Carney are pushing investors to do more to ensure their portfolio choices help to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat climate change, by limiting warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably to 1.5C. Brunel, which manages...

January 27, 2020
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27Jan

UK. FCA fined over pension scheme failures

The Pensions Regulator has fined the FCA £2,000 due to insufficient detail in its 2018 DC governance statement. This is the maximum fine The Pensions Regulator can issue for poor statements. Firms must submit an annual chair's statement which sets out how the scheme meets certain standards and obligations including information on the scheme’s default fund and its governance, the costs and charges applied, and the assessment of value for members. The fine was issued during Q3 2019, however...

January 27, 2020
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23Jan

UK. Pensions dashboards: Minister urges providers to get data in shape

Pensions minister Guy Opperman has urged companies to help pave the way for the dashboards – apps to help people keep track of their savings . The pensions dashboards will give people information about their pensions via a smartphone app, and have been billed as the solution to bring retirement money “into the digital age”. However, they require secure and accurate data from providers. Schemes will be forced to supply this under new laws, but Opperman said...

January 23, 2020
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21Jan

UK ‘leading’ European market for ESG investments

The UK is the 'leading European market' for environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related investments, with £6,439bn assets under management, according to joint research by Association of Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) and PwC Luxembourg. The joint report, Beyond their Borders: Evolution of foreign investments by pension funds, stipulated that European managers were taking the lead in applying ESG criteria to investments, with them expecting to observe 9.3 per cent growth from 2017 to 2025. The UK meanwhile is expected to...

January 21, 2020
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15Jan

Managing UK pensions risk: new Pensions Regulator powers and criminal offences

Following the general election, the government has reintroduced the Pension Schemes Bill (the ‘Bill’) into Parliament. The Bill includes a number of provisions which will significantly impact corporate activity involving groups with a UK defined benefit pension scheme. Two new criminal offences of ‘risking accrued scheme benefits’ and ‘avoidance of employer debt’ are proposed, each carrying a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. The circumstances in which the Pensions Regulator (the 'Regulator') can make connected third parties (such...

January 15, 2020
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14Jan

US. The Secure Act is exposing the ugly truth about people’s hatred of paying taxes

We want a society where we have safe roads, low crime, good public schools and, for times when people fall short financially, a safety net. Our taxes support Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which we know have kept millions of seniors out of poverty. Fifty-seven percent of retirees say Social Security is their major source of income, according to a 2019 Gallup poll. But the ugly truth about taxes is that many people hate giving up income to provide...

January 14, 2020
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13Jan

UK. Thousands of savers failing to report pension tax breaches

Thousands of savers are failing to report annual allowance breaches on their tax returns which leaves them at risk of missing out on tax relief or facing high tax bills, according to Royal London. Last year HM Revenue & Customs said it was aware some people had not reported breaching the annual allowance, which is currently £40,000. It warned that people who have used scheme pays, whereby their pension scheme pays the tax charge from their pension, must still...

January 13, 2020
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10Jan

Demographic Obstacles to European Growth

By: Thomas F. Cooley, Espen Henriksen, Charlie Nusbaum Since the early 1990’s the growth rates of the four largest European economies—France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom—have slowed. This persistent slowdown suggests a low-frequency structural change is at work. A combination of longer individual life expectancies and declining fertility have led to gradually ageing populations. Demographic change affects economic growth directly through households savings and labor supply decisions and also growth indirectly through the pension systems and the need to...

January 10, 2020
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10Jan

UK. Ombudsman reports pension scheme to TPR

The Pensions Ombudsman has reported the Green Coal Limited Occupational Pension Scheme to the Pensions Regulator with concerns over the “status of the scheme”, after upholding a complaint against it. A client dubbed Mr E complained to the ombudsman that he had not been provided with any information on his pension for a year. Previously employed by the Royal Air Force, Mr E was a deferred member of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme, which transferred £20,824 at his request in December 2013...

January 10, 2020
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