May 2024
27May

UK State Pension expected to increase by over £650 next April, based on triple lock guarantee

Finance experts have predicted that the new state pension will increase by over £650 from next April, pushing it to just above £12,150 a year. This is based on the triple lock guarantee, which ensures the state pension rises in line with the highest of three measures - September inflation, May-July wage growth or 2.5 per cent. In April 2022, the state pension saw an increase of 10.1 per cent due to rampant inflation, followed by another substantial rise of...

May 27, 2024
News, , ,
Read more...
24May

UK. What could the general election mean for pensions, mortgages and investments?

Mortgage rates, pensions policy and investments could all be affected by the upcoming general election. Last night (May 21), prime minister Rishi Sunak called a general election for July 4, but what does this mean for people’s finances? All parties will need to set out their personal finance priorities which could include changes to pensions rules and may see some promised long-awaited reforms such as changes to auto-enrolment. The UK could also see impacts to mortgage rates and investments as well as...

May 24, 2024
News,
Read more...
23May

UK. Quarter of asset managers use AI in sustainability process

More than a quarter of asset managers are already using artificial intelligence in their sustainability processes. Aviva Investors' annual asset manager survey found 56 per cent had seen an increase in client interest in sustainability-focused investments, compared with 16 per cent who had seen a decrease in appetite. The survey spoke to 60 asset managers from around the world, representing £31.9tr. While 27 per cent of the managers said they already use generative AI in their sustainability process, a further 29 per cent...

May 23, 2024
News, ,
Read more...
23May

UK. Reforms to ‘unlock’ pension savings must not undermine financial stability, IMF warns

By Sophie Smith   Reforms to unlock pension savings for higher-return investments should not undermine financial stability or pensioner outcomes, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said, also emphasising the need for broader pension adequacy improvements. In its concluding statement on the UK, the IMF argued that while there is a clear economic rationale for consolidating small pension funds, and potential benefits from encouraging the sector to invest more in higher-growth assets, realising these outcomes will take time and persistent efforts. For instance,...

May 23, 2024
News, OP Ed, Op-Ed,
Read more...
22May

UK. Equality regulator probing DWP over treatment of disabled benefits claimants

The equality regulator is investigating the Department for Work and Pensions over suspicions that its treatment of disabled benefits claimants broke equality laws. Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride and some of his predecessors are suspected to have violated the Equality Act 2010 while in charge of the DWP, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said on Wednesday. The regulator is looking at whether during health assessment determinations, which form part of the application process for some benefits, the DWP...

May 22, 2024
News, ,
Read more...
21May

Nearly 40% of savers at risk of losing track of pensions

More than one fifth (22 per cent) of savers are unsure where their pensions are held, while a further 16 per cent don’t know, research from Hargreaves Lansdown has found. The survey found that just under two thirds (62 per cent) of people know where all their pensions are held, raising concerns that some savers could be putting their retirement at risk by losing track of their pension savings altogether. The problem lessened as savers get older, as 8 per cent...

May 21, 2024
News,
Read more...
20May

UK. DWP checks find 63,000 breaking rules after monitoring bank accounts – are you at risk?

A test of new Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plans to monitor bank accounts has found tens of thousands of benefit claimants breaking the rules. The DWP asked two high street banks to trial the measures to assess their feasibility. One anonymous bank identified 713,000 accounts held by individuals receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit, or ESA (Employment and Support Allowance). Over a three-month period, it found that 60,000 accounts had too much money in them for the individuals to...

May 20, 2024
News,
Read more...
17May

Green Pensions Guide. A short guide for organisations greening their money

By Make My Money Matter  All organisations from businesses to charities, from SMEs to global brands can play an important role in tackling the climate crisis. Sustainability policies have become an expected standard across all sectors and industries, yet one of the ways organisations can have the most impact is often missing from the picture. Their money. How our pensions are invested now will shape the future we’ll retire into. The companies causing irreversible climate damage like companies at the...

May 17, 2024
Books, Books, Pension Management, Reports, , , ,
Read more...
17May

The Incidence of Workplace Pensions: Evidence from the Uk’s Automatic Enrollment Mandate

By Rachel Scarfe, Daniel Schaefer & Tomasz Sulka We examine who bears the costs of mandated workplace pension programs, exploiting the quasi-experimental rollout of automatic enrollment in the UK. Total compensation (take-home pay plus employer contributions) increases, driven by employer contributions, while the amount of take-home pay decreases. These effects differ by employer size, with take-home pay declining to an extent in the largest firms that we can rule out a pass-through to employees of more than 47%, significantly less...

May 17, 2024
Articles, Pension design, , , , ,
Read more...
17May

US. Calpers moots $25bn green private market investment

US public pension Calpers plans to invest more than $25bn (£19.8bn) into climate-related private market investments. Calpers is the biggest public pension in the US and the proposed investment would be one of the largest commitments by a major fund to unlisted climate assets. The pension fund is reported to be considering deploying capital in the private equity, real estate and infrastructure markets, with a particular interest in Asia and Europe. “Those are the ones [private market assets] that have very evident...

May 17, 2024
News, ,
Read more...