March 2017

US. Plan sponsors increasingly interested in pension risk transfer

In the United States, 80 per cent of employers sponsoring traditional defined benefit pension plans are interested in pension risk transfer, according to new research from LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute. LIMRA says that in the last few years a shift has occurred in the level of interest in pension risk transfer (PRT). While eight in 10 plan sponsors expressed interest in PRT, four in 10 said they are “very interested”. This is an increase of ten per cent from a...

Barbados. OPBA will provide Retirement Savings Statements

THE OCCUPATIONAL PENSION BENEFIT, OPBA, has made provision for pension plan members to be regularly informed of the status of their accumulating pension benefit. In addition, it has made provision for relatively early vesting of pension benefits and for greater portability of pension funds. Every year, the administrator of the pension plan must provide a written statement to each plan member setting out the specifics of the contributions made to the plan by the employee, if any, and by the...

US. Retirement Planning: Boomers Navigate Impact of Financial Crisis

According to a new study, only two percent of middle-income Baby Boomers feel the economy has fully recovered from the financial crisis that began in 2007. The survey, “10 Years After the Crisis: Middle-Income Boomers Rebounding But Not Recovered,” by Bankers Life Center for a Secure Retirement, finds that Boomers' lack of trust in institutions has led to permanent financial impairment. “[Before the Great Recession] Boomers had a clear vision of what a personally satisfying retirement looked like,” said Scott Goldberg,...

Thailand Government Pension Fund to Form Asset Management Unit

The Finance Ministry plans amending legislation to allow the Government Pension Fund (GPF) to form an asset management company to increase returns for members. Somchai Sujjapongse, permanent secretary for finance, aired the idea at the ministry on the 20th anniversary of the fund, which amounted to 758 billion baht in October last year. "The finance minister agrees with the plan... We are of the view the GPF is ready in terms of personnel who are able to manage investment in funds,"...

Chile pensions protest draws tens of thousands

Tens of thousands of people in Chile have taken part in demonstrations against the country's controversial privatised pension system. Demonstrators called on the socialist government of Michelle Bachelet to scrap the the system, which is managed by private funds. Critics say the system benefits the rich but leaves poorer Chileans with a pension below the minimum wage. The system was introduced in 1981 under General Augusto Pinochet's rule. Protest organisers said a total of more than 2 million people had joined marches in...

US. Another Casualty of Bad Retirement Planning: Worker Productivity

EBRI released its 2017 Retirement Confidence Survey on Tuesday, finding once again that Americans who have a retirement plan are more likely to be confident about their retirement outcomes. Their confidence is well-earned. Workers in a retirement plan are 10 times as likely to be saving for retirement as those who don’t have a retirement plan of some kind. Full Content: Think Advisor

Former director of CBI: UK state pension age should hit 68 seven years earlier than planned

John Cridland’s report, which will frame government policy on the state pension, has said state pension age (SPA) increases should be accelerated and should rise from 67 to 68 between 2037 and 2039. Last year the government commissioned Cridland, former director general of the Confederation of British Industry, to review the SPA, looking at the financial sustainability of the system, the issues that drive SPA rises and life expectancy. Under current legislation, from December 2018, the SPA for men and women...

US. Police, firefighters would control own pension plan under N.J. bill

Police and firefighters would manage their own pension plan, taking control from the state, under a bill the Legislature passed Thursday. It now heads to Gov. Christie’s desk. The Police and Firemen’s Retirement System, like the six other plans that make up New Jersey’s $72 billion pension fund, is currently managed by a division of the state Treasury Department. The legislation would transfer control of the police and firefighters' fund to its own board of trustees, which would be modified to...

State pension age could be raised to 70 in the UK, says report.

An analysis for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has suggested that workers under the age of 30 may not get a pension until the age of 70. A second report, by John Cridland, proposes that those under the age of 45 may have to work a year longer, to 68. The government is due to make a decision on both reports by May. Ministers are under pressure to address the expected rise in the cost of pensions, which stems from...

Canada. A $116B Pension Fund Is Walking Back Incendiary Claims Against Boaz Weinstein’s Saba Capital

When Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board tried to redeem $500 million from Boaz Weinstein's Saba Capital in 2015, the $116 billion pension fund for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police came to believe it was shortchanged during the process. In the fall of 2015, PSP sued Saba Capital, accusing the highly followed hedge fund of "self-dealing" and mis-marking illiquid fund assets to minimize the redemption, thus growing value for its remaining fund investors. Now, PSP is walking back those incendiary...