April 2017

South Korea. Daewoo Shipbuilding’s Bailout Plan Cleared by Pension Fund

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world’s largest shipbuilder, won a reprieve from major bondholder National Pension Service and other lenders, helping avert a payment crisis that had threatened to almost shut the company. The NPS agreed to restructure 1.55 trillion won ($1.4 billion) of bonds issued by the company after the shipbuilder, the Korea Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of Korea took steps to ensure repayment of the debts, the pension service said in a statement April 16....

Nigeria. Row over N22b pension legacy fund

Are 10 insurance firms owing the Federal Government’s Pension Transitional Directorate Department (PTAD) N22 billion meant for the Pension Legacy Fund? Yes, says PTAD. Yes, but. .., say some of the firms. The fund includes the liabilities and assets of pension funds of erstwhile pension offices and treasury funded pensions of parastatals, universities and colleges of education in charge of pensioners under the old pension scheme, known as the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS). The PTAD, under the Pension Reform Act (PRA)...

Factors Aligning to Accelerate Pension Activity in the US

While combined pre‑funding and risk transfer actions have typically been economically positive, primarily due to the substantial increase in Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) premiums and other defined benefit (DB) maintenance costs, many plan sponsors have stayed on the sidelines or managed pension risk tentatively, Mercer notes in a report. However, Mercer says, pension sponsors are growing tired of market and regulatory volatility and are contemplating bolder action. Potential tax changes that will drive accelerated pre‑funding make a tipping point...

UK Recognized overseas pension schemes notification list

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has temporarily suspended the ROPS notification list. It will return on Tuesday 18 April 2017. Pension schemes appear on the published list if their scheme managers have agreed to provide certain information to HMRC. They must agree to this undertaking for their scheme to be a qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (QROPS). Since 9 March 2017 scheme managers have been required to pay tax to HMRC on certain transfers. They had until 13 April 2017 to...

Chile’s President Bachelet Presents Bill to Boost Pensions

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet announced on Wednesday evening that she was sending to Congress a bill that would dramatically increase the size of public pensions in the face of growing opposition to the nation's current system. The bill would include an increase in the amount of savings held collectively, a new 5 percent payroll tax, and a corresponding boost in retirement savings. Current pensioners would see savings rise by around 20 percent, while workers currently paying into the system would...

Yield-seeking Japanese investors seen helping to fund global real assets

Traditionally conservative Japanese investors are eyeing higher-yielding investments such as global infrastructure and real estate after a prolonged period of low economic growth and yields, according to analysis from Australia-based AMP Capital. With AUM of about 500 trillion yen (US$4.4 trillion), the Japanese institutional investment market “represents a substantial source of capital for investment into real assets across the globe”, the company says in a statement on Tuesday (April 11). According to Toshiaki Yamashita, Japan-based managing director of AMP Capital, Japanese...

UK. Will LISA kill pensions?

The recently launched Lifetime ISA (LISA) is designed to help under 40s (18-39) purchase their first home or save for retirement. While I applaud the introduction of any tax-free saving platform that rewards savers with bonuses, I am not convinced this latest addition to the ISA portfolio, is as some describe, a credible alternative to pensions. Confusion There’s already confusion over the account’s purpose – is it for first-time-buyers or those wishing to save for retirement? Surely such contrasting savings aims...

Romanian SocDem leader lashes at Dutch pension fund manager and financial regulator head for spreading “fake” information

Liviu Dragnea, the head of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), accused the local subsidiary of Dutch insurance group NN of spreading false rumors about the possible nationalization of the local private pension funds and inciting its clients to protests and called for a harsh reaction from the authorities against the company. He also accused the president of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) Misu Negritoiu, a former ING Romania CEO, of having started the whole scandal on the nationalization of private...

Pension cuts in 2019 to affect some 850,000 beneficiaries in Greece

Pension rates in crisis-battered Greece are set for another round of reductions in 2019, a downward trend that commenced with the advent of the economic crisis in 2010 and the subsequent implementation of bailout-mandated reforms. The latest draft agreement between Athens and institutional creditors is forecast to lead to a weighted average decrease of up to 22 percent for currently allocated monthly pensions. As previously and repeatedly reported, the reduction in social security spending will equal one percent of GDP...

Japan stems rate of population decline, but growing pension burden looms

Japan’s population will fall nearly a third by 2065, with almost 40 per cent aged 65 or older and the working population labouring under a tougher pension burden, although the pace of population decline has slowed slightly, a government agency said yesterday. Solutions to Japan’s population slide have eluded policymakers for decades, putting finances under growing pressure as demand for pensions surges. In 2015, the government established a new Cabinet minister with the task of keeping the population from slipping below...