April 2019

29Apr

UK. Tougher overseas pension regulations to impact advisers

Advisers must ensure they can still fully service new or existing clients who have transferred their UK pension into an overseas pension scheme following new rule changes, deVere Group has warned. This summer, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) is implementing new rules which will impact the way in which Pension Trustees administer both new scheme applications and existing members on a number of levels. There are estimated to be about 30,000 UK pensions already transferred into Malta-based Qualifying...

April 29, 2019
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26Apr

The Extinction Rebellion: How Sustainable Finance Can Help Save The Planet

Parts of London were brought to a standstill by the Extinction Rebellion last week. The protesters seek to bring to the public’s attention the ticking time bomb that the human race faces by not addressing climate change seriously or quickly enough. The Extinction Rebellion is more an orderly assembly of rational modest citizens, many of whom have never protested before, than anarchists such as anti-capitalist / global protestors. A seventy-year-old women who was arrested and wished not to be...

April 26, 2019
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25Apr

Prudential Financial closes $2.6 billion in longevity reinsurance agreements

Prudential Retirement®, a unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), has concluded about $2.6 billion in previously undisclosed longevity reinsurance contracts, an important signal of an unprecedented start to the 2019 U.K. pension risk transfer market. As part of these transactions, Prudential Retirement is assuming the longevity risks of approximately 16,000 pensioners. This early 2019 de-risking wave has been driven in part by many pensions seeking to close agreements prior to the original March 29 Brexit deadline. But with...

April 25, 2019
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25Apr

UK. British pension fund USSL to buy telecom co KCOM for 504 mln pounds

British pension fund Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd (USSL) said its Humber Bidco unit would buy telecommunication company KCOM for 504 million pounds ($651.42 million), sending KCOM shares soaring more than 30 percent. Humber Bidco would pay 97 pence per KCOM share in cash, a premium of almost 34 percent. KCOM's directors intend to urge shareholders to vote in favour of the deal which they called "fair and reasonable", USSL said. KCOM shares surged nearly 34 percent - its biggest...

April 25, 2019
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19Apr

UK. DWP publishes guidance on GMP equalisation

The Department for Work and Pensions has published its first round of guidance to help trustees resolve unequal guaranteed minimum pensions today. A GMP is the minimum pension that an occupational pension scheme, contracted out of the additional state pension between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997 on a salary-related basis, has to provide to its members. GMPs were abolished for contracted out service after 5 April 1997. The guidance, developed in conjunction with an industry working group, provides a recommended road...

April 19, 2019
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18Apr

UK financial watchdog sets out key focus for year ahead

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said there is an “inherent conflict of interest” when firms use contingent charging structures for DB pension transfers, according to its business plan for 2019/2020, where it assessed its activity for the next financial year. Alongside DB issues, the UK regulator also said it is continuing to consult the industry on further requirements for firms to provide a range of investment pathways to help consumers choose options that meet their needs when entering...

April 18, 2019
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17Apr

UK. Govt urged to tackle ‘social inequalities’ caused by state pension reforms

The government is being urged to draw on examples from other countries when it comes to implementing state pension reforms without causing further social inequalities, as it was found the current UK reforms have the potential to "exacerabate inequalities". In a new report from the International Longevity Centre (ILC), the think tank draws on research by Extend project that found that the state pension reforms have significant potential to exacerbate social inequalities. The research by Extend found...

April 17, 2019
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16Apr

UK. MP fights frozen pensions policy

Sir Peter Bottomley, a Conservative MP for Worthing West, has tabled an early day motion against government rules which dictate a freeze of some expat state pensions. The Department for Work and Pensions introduced rules in March that restrict the state pension annual increases in cases where the beneficiary is not ordinarily resident in Great Britain. Currently the majority of pensioners living in the UK have their state pension increased according to the triple-lock principle, meaning it is by...

April 16, 2019
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15Apr

UK. State pension age changes ‘risk creating new inequalities’

Making people work longer before they can collect their state pensions risks exacerbating social inequalities and threatens to create new gender inequalities, a report claims. Analysis by the thinktank International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) found that women who struggled to reconcile longer working lives with caring responsibilities would be badly hit by changes to the law. Worst hit, however, would be women with lower education levels, who were projected to lose up to 25% of their monthly pension entitlements...

April 15, 2019
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12Apr

UK. Pensioners to protest at HSBC’s annual meeting

Sharon McGeough-Adams faces losing £200 a month from her HSBC pension and will protest at the bank's annual general meeting on Friday to demand changes. Having worked for the UK's biggest bank for more than 37 years, she says it is money that could be put aside for other necessities, such as fuel. The loss is caused by the bank's move to reduce pension payments when the recipient receives state pension. HSBC has said it would cost £450m to...

April 12, 2019
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