September 2018
13Sep

The world’s largest pension funds – year ended 2017

Assets under management of the world's largest pension funds totalled US$18.1 trillion in 2017. Funds increased their value by 15.1% in 2017, compared to an increase of 6.1% in 2016. Strong market returns for all major asset classes helped boost pension assets during the year. The top 20 funds experienced a higher increase than the overall ranking (17.4%), thus increasing their relative size to 41.1% of total assets. North America remained the largest region in terms of AUM, accounting for 42.3% of all...

September 13, 2018
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13Sep

Mexico. ‘It needs to be absolutely clean’: How Sergio Méndez leads Mexico’s biggest pension fund

At the helm of Mexico’s largest pension fund, Sergio Méndez faces a regulatory sea change and a volatile economic backdrop. The key is to have a flexible battle plan. Before I sat down to interview Sergio Méndez, the chief investment officer of Afore XXI Banorte, there were some topics that I was pretty certain would come up – Mexico’s changing regulatory environment, its roller coaster market ride, Donald Trump – and so I prepared accordingly. But one subject I had definitely...

September 13, 2018
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13Sep

Estonia. Reform wants to increase average pensions by €200 over four years

Among pension-related campaign promises of the opposition Reform Party's election platform is a plan to increase Estonia's average monthly pension by €200 over four years. The leadership of the Reform Party on Wednesday approved core pension-related promises of its election platform ahead of the 2019 Riigikogu election. The popular opposition party has set as its goal the increasing of the average pension by €200 over the next four years, supported by economic growth. The Reform Party likewise wants to put an...

September 13, 2018
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12Sep

European Court: UK Pension Lifeboat Should Lift Compensation Cap

Last Thursday, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that pensioners should receive a minimum of 50 percent of the value of their pension in the event that their employer eventually goes bust. The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), the pensions lifeboat of the United Kingdom, had imposed a cap for the compensation of employees who had lost their pensions when their employers went under at £35,000. The CJEU reviewed the case of Grenville Hampshire who lost approximately 67 percent...

September 12, 2018
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12Sep

Switzerland. Supplementary benefits – what are they and who receives them?

Reducing financial support for the country’s poorest citizens is triggering heated debates in parliament, with no final decision expected this session. State expenditure has more than doubled since 2000 on so-called supplementary benefits for people who can’t get by on their pension alone. What’s at stake? The almost CHF5 billion ($5.1 billion) in supplementary benefitsexternal link that the state pays to more than 320,000 pensioners a year. What’s the purpose of supplementary benefits? According to the federal constitution, the old-age and disability pension...

September 12, 2018
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12Sep

Sukuk – a new avenue for funding African infrastructure

African governments need to embrace private sector infrastructure investment to alleviate the burden on the public purse. Fully convertible exchange rates and allowance for capital to easily move in and out of African countries should be deemed precedent conditions. Sukuk – the Islamic equivalent of bonds – give investors a share of an asset together with the attendant cash flows and risk. It can only be extended to productive activities, trade, and real assets. Globally Sukuk issuance in 2017 increased by 45.3%,...

September 12, 2018
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12Sep

US. Trump takes a first step to boost retirement security

President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order aimed at strengthening retirement security in America. It's a step in the right direction, but tackling two additional issues would truly address the pressing needs of working Americans who want to save for retirement. Mr. Trump's Aug. 31 order directs the Department of Labor and the Department of Treasury to encourage the adoption of multiple employer plans (MEPs), which allow small employers to pool resources and costs to offer retirement plans to...

September 12, 2018
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12Sep

UK. Millions risk a ‘minimum wage’ old age

Millions of workers are facing a “minimum wage pension” as automatic enrolment contributions are too low, experts warned yesterday. The amount put into employees’ “defined contribution” pots has fallen dramatically in six years. The average amount saved into pensions by employees and their employers was 3.4 per cent of salary in 2017, falling from 4.2 per cent in 2016 and from a 9.7 per cent high in 2012. This is despite the number of people saving for their old age reaching...

September 12, 2018
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12Sep

China. Asset management firms see potential in pension funds

One month after the central regulator gave the green light to pension target securities investment funds, asset management companies have sped up their growth in the market. Two pension target securities investment fund products from Shanghai-based Zhong Ou Asset Management and Beijing-based Manulife Teda Fund Management started to be sold to the public on Monday. Both products will adopt the fund of funds strategy, with a portfolio that consists of multiple underlying mutual funds and each of those underlying funds...

September 12, 2018
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11Sep

Russia. Putin Allies Suffer Election Setbacks Amid Pensions Protests

Russian President Vladimir Putin got a taste of public anger at his plans to increase the pension age as voters turned on the ruling party in regional elections and hundreds were arrested at protests against the reform. United Russia’s candidates for governor in four regions, mostly in the country’s east, were forced into runoffs after failing to win majorities in elections Sunday. They trailed Communist and nationalist opponents in two of the races, gaining as little as 32 percent support...

September 11, 2018
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