October 2019

03Oct

UK. Opperman says Pensions Bill is ‘good to go’

The minister for pensions and financial inclusion has detailed the main areas that will be covered in the upcoming Pensions Bill, which he said is “completely ready and good to go”. Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester yesterday (October 1), organised by the Social Market Foundation and The Institute And Faculty Of Actuaries, Mr Opperman said his work on the bill was done, although he noted he was waiting for the Queen’s Speech...

October 3, 2019
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02Oct

Brazil Senate approves pension reform in first-round vote

Brazil’s Senate approved the main text of a pension reform bill in a first-round vote on Tuesday, clearing another key hurdle for the government’s bid to narrow its massive budget gap. The main text passed with a vote of 56 in favor - a comfortable margin above the 49 votes required - with 19 opposed and one abstention. Only 76 of 81 senators were present. The Senate is expected to consider amendments to the bill on Wednesday before it...

October 2, 2019
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01Oct

UK’s new ESG pension rules are just the first step: PLSA

New disclosure rules relating to UK pension funds’ consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and engagement with investee companies should be seen as a first step in an “ESG journey for trustees”, according to the industry’s main trade group. Under the changes, which come into effect tomorrow, trustees must outline their approach to engagement with and voting of their shares in investee companies, and how they take account of financially material factors, including ESG and climate change considerations, in...

October 1, 2019
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September 2019

25Sep

UK watchdog threatens to shut ‘problematic’ pensions advisers

Britain's markets watchdog threatened on Tuesday to close "every single advisory firm" that continues to wrongly tell people to cash in their defined benefit pensions. Megan Butler, executive director of supervision at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said the behavior among financial advisers was "shocking" and "problematic". Lawmakers have criticized the FCA for being too slow to stop advisers telling steelworkers in Wales to cash in their defined benefit pensions that are pegged to salaries rather than the ups...

September 25, 2019
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24Sep

India. Government Issues Notification Announcing Amendments In Pension Rules

The families of government employees dying after serving less than seven years will get enhanced pension now with the Centre amending rules. The move is likely to benefit the widows of Central Armed Police Forces personnel. Earlier, the government employees should have rendered at least seven years of service in case of death so that the family could get the enhanced family pension at 50 per cent of the last pay drawn. Now, even with less than seven years...

September 24, 2019
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23Sep

Abe vows to improve Japan’s social welfare as population grays

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Friday to step up efforts to reform social security as Japan faces a multitude of challenges stemming from its rapidly graying population and low birthrate. “Reform toward social security for all generations is the biggest challenge,” Abe said at the first meeting of a government panel tasked with dealing with the issues. “We will consider sustainable reforms for the entire social security system.” Abe instructed his Cabinet members, including Yasutoshi Nishimura, minister in charge...

September 23, 2019
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18Sep

France. How Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms could paralyse his presidency

Last Friday, the Paris transport system came to a standstill. Employees at RATP, the company that runs the metro and bus lines as well as suburban RER trains, launched the biggest French strike for more than a decade: between 60 and 98 per cent of the workforce took action, according to trade unions. With ten metro lines completely closed and buses, trams and RER trains scarcely running, the strike wreaked havoc on Paris streets. People resorted to cars to...

September 18, 2019
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17Sep

France. Lawyers, doctors, nurses protest pension changes

Thousands of French professionals, including lawyers and doctors, took to the streets of Paris Monday in the latest protest against the government's planned pension changes. The protest saw lawyers, doctors, nurses and others in regulated professions vent their displeasure at the proposed changes that President Emmanuel Macron's government says will simplify France's convoluted pensions system. The government has promised the legal retirement age of 62 won't change, but new conditions may encourage people to work longer. A large majority...

September 17, 2019
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13Sep

France. Paris traffic gridlock as metro workers strike over pension reform

Paris metro workers walked off the job Friday over plans for a major overhaul of the pension system, sparking huge traffic jams as commuters scrambled to find other ways of getting to work. Ten of the city's 16 metro lines were shut down completely, while service on most others was "extremely disrupted," the city's RATP transit operator said. Massive crowds waited on the platforms of the two automated driverless lines still operating and officials counted nearly 300 kilometres (185...

September 13, 2019
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10Sep

Zimbabwe. IPEC reforms progressive

The Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) says it has made “significant progress” on institutional and regulatory reforms in keeping with recommendations of the Justice Smith-led Commission of Inquiry. The Commission of Inquiry focused on the conversion of insurance and pensions values from Zimbabwe dollar to the United States dollar, but it also included other reform proposals. Although progress had been recorded on other aspects of the pensions reform agenda, IPEC pensions director Josphat Kakwere said development of the proposed...

September 10, 2019
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