December 2021
30Dec

US. New Lifetime Annuities in 401(k) Plans Could Cut Advisors Out of the Picture

One of the primary reasons many retirees seek out financial advice is to convert their savings into a steady stream of income that can support their current lifestyles for the rest of their days. That’s why, to some advisors, the news this November that State Street Global Advisors launched a deferred lifetime income annuity within the University of California’s retirement plan could seem unsettling. That retirement plan has $35 billion in assets that advisors might not be able to manage...

December 30, 2021
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30Dec

ETF investors want impact with ESG allocations, survey finds

Investors are aligning themselves with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) when allocating to ESG, according to a survey conducted by ETF Stream and Amundi. The survey of 105 investors across Europe, which featured in a report of initial findings titled ETF Scan: The Big Picture, found 35% of respondents said they want ESG exposure linked to either impact or the 17 SDGs, the most across all responses. This highlights the use case for thematic ETFs which can offer targeted...

December 30, 2021
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29Dec

The Elevated Economy: Why Investors And Companies Can’t Ignore ESG

By Richard Steel Over time, public companies will be forced to take stances on environmental, social and governance issues, pressured by shareholders, public opinion, clients and customers. I believe the same will be true with pension funds and endowments. Just look at the activism around the Harvard endowment and the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, which manages Norway’s assets and is dropping $13 billion of fossil fuel investments. Not only companies but also consumers are embracing — even demanding — an...

December 29, 2021
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28Dec

US. With Pandemic Lessons Learned, Institutional Investors Gear Up for 2022

Recently, the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) announced it had finalized the consolidation of Barings’ mutual funds with MassMutual funds onto the MassMutual investments platform. To mark the occasion, PLANSPONSOR sat down with Keith McDonagh, the head of MassMutual’s institutional solutions business, to talk about this and other developments, including the state of competition in the institutional services space and the challenges he is hearing about from brokers, consultants and their institutional investor clients. At a high level, McDonagh...

December 28, 2021
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28Dec

India’s expanding gig economy must treat workers fairly

The gig economy and its growing fault lines between gig employees and platform companies are in the news again, with 50 women “partners" of Urban Company’s (UC) salon and spa vertical protesting against policy changes that will come into effect from January. These, they claim, will affect their ability to earn and are therefore “unfair labour practices". The company, India’s largest home-services provider, has filed a lawsuit in Gurugram’s district court against the protests. The judgement in this case...

December 28, 2021
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27Dec

Record returns notched in pandemic head list

A global pandemic in its second year, historically strong equity markets and a new occupant in the White House dominated headlines during the past year, while the return of inflation and regulatory and legislative changes were also among Pensions & Investments' top 10 stories of 2021. The top story this year — chosen by P&I's editors — is the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As it lagged on, a historic market recovery spurred in part by actions taken to...

December 27, 2021
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27Dec

Nigeria. FG still owes over N90.1bn pension liabilities — PTAD

The Federal Government still owes over N90.1 billion pension inherited unfunded liabilities to redundant agencies and parastatals, the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, has said. The Directorate disclosed this at the training workshop it organised for pension correspondents in Abuja. Deputy Director of Parastatals, Pension Department, PaPD, of PTAD, Yusuf Umar, who disclosed this, said the outstanding revealed that the defunct Nigeria Telecommunications Nitel/Mtel had the largest with N73 billion unfunded liability, translating to 81 per cent.Umar said others were Delta...

December 27, 2021
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27Dec

Chinese province offers $31,000 baby loans to counter shrinking population

A Chinese province with one of the fastest-shrinking populations is rolling out special loans to encourage couples to marry and have babies, as the rapidly-aging country tries to reverse a slump in births. Jilin province in northeast China will support banks to provide up to 200,000 yuan ($31,400) of “marriage and birth consumer loans” to married couples, according to an official blueprint on policies to promote population growth. There were no details on how the government would offer support, but the...

December 27, 2021
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24Dec

UK. Experts predict busy 2022 for pensions industry

Pension professionals have predicted a busy and challenging year for the pensions sector in 2022, with many issues continuing into the New Year alongside new initiatives for the industry to contend with. With hope that the pandemic will subside, many commentators pointed to the increased focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in 2022. “2022 will see the continued rise in the incorporation of key ESG issues, including but not limited to climate change, into defined contribution (DC) investment design,”...

December 24, 2021
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24Dec

Spain. The IMF warns of the ‘Escrivá plan’ for pensions: the reform will raise spending by 42,000 million

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns the Government of Spain about the pension reform, which will make the System more unsustainable if complementary measures are not taken on spending and income. In this way, it disfigures the cabinet led by the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, José Luis Escrivá, that “the pension reform has prioritized social acceptability and sufficiency, but concerns remain about sustainability in the event that no additional measures are implemented “. The agency assures...

December 24, 2021
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