April 2022

US. Window opens to increase ESG investments in DC plans

US. Window opens to increase ESG investments in DC plans

Retirement plan service providers are betting that demand for ESG investments in plan menus — until now muted — is set to grow. Take, for example, Morningstar Inc. In October, the company's investment management arm announced it had teamed up with Plan Administrators Inc., a retirement plan administrator and record keeper, to launch a pooled employer plan this year featuring an investment menu made up almost exclusively of ESG funds. Five months later, Transamerica Corp. followed suit with the launch of...

March 2022

OECD adopts revised good DC design messages as recommendation

OECD adopts revised good DC design messages as recommendation

The OECD has published a 10-point plan for the good design of defined contribution (DC) pension plans, elevating the updated “roadmap” to the status of an OECD Council recommendation. The initial guidelines were published in 2012, with the OECD’s working party on private pensions (WPPP) deciding to revise the report to incorporate all the work conducted over the years since and “to maintain its relevance given current contextual realities and the cumulated experience observed in OECD jurisdictions”. “It’s a comprehensive update...

January 2022

The Future of Multi-Pillar Pensions

By Lans Bovenberg, Casper van Ewijk & Ed Westerhout Pension systems are under serious pressure worldwide. This pressure stems not only from the well-known trend of population aging, but also from those of increasing heterogeneity of the population and increasing labour mobility. The current economic crisis has aggravated these problems, thereby exposing the vulnerability of many pension schemes to macroeconomic shocks. This book reconsiders the multi-pillar pension scheme against the background of these pressures. It adopts an integral perspective and...

September 2021

Saving govt pensions by encouraging citizens’ savings

All Arab countries, except for three, have deficits in their pension funds exceeding 50%. As for the three countries, two recapitalize its fund early last decade. Likewise, these three countries are not immune from deficits of similar proportions during the next to decades if they end up doing the same thing. Up until now, there is one thing all Arab countries have in common in addition to the Arabic language, which is their so governments on a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) basis....

August 2021

Intergenerational inequality and pension systems

By CAndreas Charalambous and Omiros Pissarides he issue of income inequality lies at the heart of political discussions, both at EU and worldwide levels. Inequality manifests itself in different forms – inequality within a country, inequality between countries and intergenerational inequality. Today’s article deals with the issue of intergenerational inequality, aiming at safeguarding a satisfactory quality of life for future generations, with a particular emphasis on vulnerable citizens. The main policy instrument for this purpose is the adaptation of pension systems. Modern...

July 2021

FTSE 350 Defined Contribution Pension Survey 2021

By Gemma Burrows & Roy Edie We are pleased to publish the sixteenth edition of our FTSE Defined Contribution (DC) Pension Survey. When undertaking this year’s survey, we wanted to see whether the pandemic had affected companies’ commitment to DC provision. There was concern that we might see a reduction in benefits and commitment as organisations grappled with maintaining financial stability and workforce planning. Far from showing this, this year’s results reveal that organisations share a compelling desire to improve member...

UK. We need more retirement products to help DC savers

In its first nine years, auto-enrolment’s incredible success has been built on how much people have been able to save into their pension pots. Now the time has come to give serious consideration to how this new generation of savers will turn these savings into a reliable pension income. This is because in the next decade people reliant on defined contribution workplace pensions to supplement the state pension will start to retire in large numbers. What this means is that policymakers and...

UK. Consultation risks taking DC pension consolidation ‘too far, too fast’

The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) most recent consultation on further consolidation in the defined contribution (DC) pension market risks taking consolidation “too far, too fast”, according to Hymans Robertson. In its response to the consultation Future of the DC pension market: the case for greater consolidation, Hymans Robertson warned that taking consolidation further and faster would be “counter-productive”, and reduce competition and innovation. “Since DC took over from defined benefit (DB) as the main source of pension provision in...

April 2021

The Macro Challenges of Population Aging

A new paper jointly released today by The Concord Coalition and the Global Aging Institute (GAI) warns that the aging of the U.S. population not only threatens to overwhelm the budget, but could also usher in a future of permanently slower economic growth and diminished geopolitical stature. The paper, entitled The Macro Challenges of Population Aging, is the fifth in a series of issue briefs on the aging of America called The Shape of Things to Come. Read also Spain....

US. Florida Senate Passes Bill to Move Most State Workers to DC Plan

The Florida state Senate has passed a bill that would eliminate the option for nearly all new state employees to participate in a defined benefit (DB) plan, instead requiring them to join a defined contribution (DC) plan. Read also New York pension fund divests $7 million from Canadian oil sands firms The bill, which was sponsored by Republican Sen. Ray Rodrigues, would require new hires as of July 1, 2022, to enroll in a 401(k)-style investment plan. Employees are currently given...