August 2017

24Aug

South Africa. Six retirement ‘rules of thumb’ that should be retired

Managers of retirement funds have to manage the underlying assets in retirement funds according to rules in Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act. These rules set certain maximum exposure to certain asset types such as equities, bonds, cash, hedge funds, private equity investments and offshore funds. Managers may invest a maximum of 75% of the portfolio in equities, and a maximum of 25% offshore, (excluding Africa) for example. The maximum exposure to hedge funds is 10% and to private...

August 24, 2017
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24Aug

Switzerland. ‘If nothing changes, the young will pay twice’

Will Interior Minister Alain Berset be able to convince voters to back reforms of the old-age pension scheme? Interviewed by swissinfo.ch at the recent Congress of the Swiss Abroad in Basel, he discusses young people, women and billionaires. Faced with an aging population, reduced economic growth and low interest rates, the government and a parliamentary majority are calling for a sweeping reform of the old-age social security system to ensure that pensions can still be paid for in years to...

August 24, 2017
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24Aug

US. Will the GOP destroy the 401(k)?

Republicans are ready to take on tax reform. And to make the numbers work, they may radically change the way your retirement savings are taxed. Both the Trump administration and the congressional GOP want to slash tax rates for individuals and corporations. The problem is that that strategy will lose the government money, and any bill passed by reconciliation — a procedural move in the Senate that avoids the filibuster — must be deficit-neutral over the long term. Republicans want...

August 24, 2017
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24Aug

UK. Transfer delays cost pension savers over £1 billion

Pension transfer delays are costing consumers a total of over £1 billion, according to new research by online pension consolidation service PensionBee – a cost that could be avoided by transferring pensions electronically. There are 33.4 million defined contribution pension pots in the UK, and the research assumes that they will each be transferred at some point at least once, whether to consolidate pensions, purchase an annuity or be put into a new account for drawdown purposes. The transfer process is...

August 24, 2017
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23Aug

Canada Pension Plan reform to boost assets above $15 trillion by 2090

The upcoming enrichment of the Canada Pension Plan will help fuel a 48-fold boost to the public fund’s assets over the long haul – to more than $15.8 trillion by 2090, according to federal calculations. In comparison, the public plan’s investment manager reported $326.5 billion in net assets at the end of the first quarter of 2017-18. Long-term projections on the evolution of the CPP’s post-reform assets were included in an internal briefing note prepared for federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau...

August 23, 2017
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23Aug

UK. What makes a good pension investment strategy?

In the last 18 months, the UK has experienced a Brexit referendum, the appointment of a new prime minister, the triggering of Article 50 to leave the European Union, a General Election in which the government lost its majority, and the beginning of critical negotiations with the EU on trade, citizens’ rights and financial contributions post-Brexit. This has all been amid a Trump presidency, European elections, and an unpredictable global economic climate. It’s no surprise then that the political and...

August 23, 2017
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23Aug

Companies, Investors Report on SDG Contributions

August 2017: Companies are continuing to announce plans to align their business goals with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to integrate the SDGs into their strategies and plans. Companies in Japan, Kenya and the US have adopted practices to promote sustainability. A Danish pension fund is promoting sustainable infrastructure investment. Other recent private sector contributions include reports on inclusive business models and impact investing. In Japan, Sumitomo Chemical introduced an in-house certification programme for products and technologies that contribute...

August 23, 2017
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22Aug

UK. Ex-BHS owner Dominic Chappell prosecuted by pensions regulator

Dominic Chappell, the former owner of BHS, is to be prosecuted by the pensions watchdog for failing to provide information for an investigation into its sale. Chappell headed Retail Acquisitions, the company that acquired BHS for £1 from Sir Philip Green in 2015. A year later, it collapsed with the loss of 11,000 jobs and a pension deficit of as much as £571m. The Pensions Regulator is prosecuting Chappell for failing to comply with three notices for information issued under Section...

August 22, 2017
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22Aug

Nigeria. PenCom against Devolution of Power Bill

The National Pension Commission (PenCom), has kicked against the ongoing amendment on pension in the Constitutional Amendment Bill No.3 on Devolution of Powers by the National Assembly. The Acting Director-General, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, said the amendment if passed into law, will bring chaos and regulatory arbitrage in the country. She said acceding to the proposed amendment which allows State Houses of Assembly to enact laws establishing regulatory agencies on pension matters would directly be in conflict with the Pension Reform Act...

August 22, 2017
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22Aug

73% of Aussies plan to use the Age Pension

Most Australians (63 per cent) do not have a plan for how they will live in retirement and 73 per cent plan to use the Age Pension when they retire, according to Sunsuper. Sunsuper’s latest report surveyed over 1,000 Australians and found that 30 per cent of people never thought about their retirement and four per cent did not care about retiring. The remaining 66 per cent had vastly mixed feelings. Those who felt positively (33 per cent) about retiring were...

August 22, 2017
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