February 2024
01Feb

Canadian funds tapping into investment opportunities in Brazil

By PALASH GHOSH   Canadian pension funds have been investing in Brazil, a huge country that boasts a growing $2.1 trillion economy, the largest such economy in Latin America and an especially attractive target for infrastructure and energy investments, as evidenced by the recent agreement by Caisse de Depot et Placement du Québec to increase its stake in a natural gas transmission firm. Ironically, Brazil jumped two spots last year to surpass Canada itself as the globe's ninth biggest economy, the International Monetary...

February 1, 2024
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January 2024
30Jan

Where Pension Incentive Pay Makes Sense — and Doesn’t

By Girard Miller To continue a theme I introduced in my last column, the compensation structures for public pension professionals will need a tune-up if we expect them to deliver superior investment returns. The first steps toward performance improvement don’t require a lot of money — just a willingness to bump up the salaries of those with proven investment IQs as demonstrated through relevant credentialing programs. Beyond that, however, it gets much trickier for the plans seeking to deliver optimal performance in...

January 30, 2024
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December 2023
21Dec

UK. Good News — The UK’s Pensions Black Hole Is No More

By John Stepek   Welcome to Money Distilled. I’m John Stepek. Every week day I look at the biggest stories in markets and economics, and explain what it all means for your money. The good news on UK corporate pensions Merryn talks to Kokou Agbo-Bloua, global head of economics, cross-asset and quant research about the outlook for 2024, and why he thinks a slowdown in the US is inevitable. But what should you buy? There was a story over on our Markets Live blog yesterday that caught my eye, as I’d missed...

December 21, 2023
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November 2023
22Nov

México. Las brechas económicas de género

Por Kathia Ramos La desigualdad de género se manifiesta en aspectos económicos, financieros, políticos y sociales. A modo de ejemplo está el techo de cristal, la reducida representación en posiciones de liderazgo, la inequidad en acceso a la educación y a los servicios de salud, solo por mencionar algunos. La atención económica y financiera del tema radica en que la desigualdad perpetúa la vulnerabilidad económica y la pobreza, obstaculizando el desarrollo económico. Esto podemos verlo por dos vías, la primera es...

November 22, 2023
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August 2023
28Aug

Canada is burning, so why is our national pension fund still heavily into fossil fuels?

By: Patrick DeRochie   Patrick DeRochie is the senior manager of Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health, a charitable project that tracks the fossil fuel investments and climate policies of Canadian pension funds, and mobilizes pension beneficiaries to engage fund managers on the climate crisis. As Canada experiences a record-shattering summer of deadly extreme weather, it’s worth remembering that our national pension fund has poured much of our retirement savings into the primary cause of the climate crisis: fossil fuels. In...

August 28, 2023
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July 2023
17Jul

México. Afores generaron plusvalías por $351 mil 551 millones

Por: Braulio Carbajal Las Administradoras de Fondos para el Retiro (Afore) cerraron el primer semestre de 2023 con entrega de plusvalías (ganancias no concretadas hasta el momento del retiro) por 351 mil 551 millones de pesos. Sólo en junio generaron 63 mil 566 millones de pesos, revelan datos oficiales. Cifras de la Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro (Consar) dan cuenta de una recuperación de los activos pensionarios de los trabajadores, pues al cierre del primer semestre de...

July 17, 2023
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June 2023
20Jun

The politicisation of investments at US public funds

By Amanda White with Sarah Rundell The attempts by multiple Republican states to restrict where US pension funds can invest is symptomatic of bad governance. Top1000funds.com takes a deep dive into the quagmire of US state pension funds to assess the impact of partisan politics on the ability of CIOs to do their jobs. The analysis highlights the need for improved practices around delegated authority to prevent the politicisation of investments. So much has been written about the rise and fall...

June 20, 2023
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19Jun

US. Teacher pensions systems are increasingly underfunded, making teachers vulnerable and salaries less attractive

By Andrew G. Biggs Pensions are an important component of total compensation for most employees but particularly for public school teachers. Teachers tend to have relatively low salaries but retirement benefits that are considerably more generous than in a typical private-sector 401(k) plan. Yet the risk facing teachers is that many teacher pension plans are significantly underfunded, placing their employers under considerable financial strain, and reducing resources available for schools and for teacher pay and benefits. The funding shortfalls facing...

June 19, 2023
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April 2023
19Apr

UK. ‘The current pensions system is not fit for purpose’

By Stephanie Hawthorne The death knell for defined benefit pension provision has been tolled many times, even if the final 'coffin nail’ has not quite yet been hammered into its lid. Millions of ordinary workers, from journalists, railway workers to shop assistants in WH Smith, enjoyed DB pensions without appreciating just how good a perk they were, until it was almost too late. What a failure in communications. Sadly, we have almost reached a tipping point when there will be no return...

April 19, 2023
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October 2022
28Oct

Ghana. NPRA calls for more collaborations with stakeholders to increase coverage and growth

The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) is urging stakeholders in the industry to enhance collaboration that would inure to the benefit of Ghanaian workers during retirement. Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regions manager of the Authority, William Ohene Adjei, said it is only through effective collaboration that there would be a widening coverage and subsequently rope in more informal workers. He said as part of the Authority’s 5-year strategic plan, they intend to work towards increasing pension coverage and pension income. “It...

October 28, 2022
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