September 2019

Brazil’s Petros Pension Aims to Increase Private Equity Investment in 2020

One of the largest state-run pension funds in Brazil could gradually resume investing in private equity next year, following a period of cutting back its exposure to the asset class and changes in the rules governing the investment vehicles themselves. “It’s a move that will happen in slow motion,” Alexandre Mathias, chief investment officer of the employee pension fund at state-run oil giant Petróleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, said of the plan to resume making fresh investments in the...

Pension auto-enrolment at risk of being stalled, warns Irish Life

The Government’s plan to introduce mandatory private pensions for all workers above a certain income limit by 2022 is now in danger of being stalled, putting at risk the adequacy of worker’s future pension pots. With private pensions still inadequate – research from the Economic and Social Research Institute last week found that women are retiring with significantly smaller pension pots then men – Irish Life, in its pre-budget statement, says the introduction of auto-enrolment needs to be “expedited”....

Investors Urge South Africa to Leave Their $163 Billion Savings

South Africa’s 2.4 trillion rand ($163 billion) savings industry has a request for the ruling party: stop threatening to dictate where funds must invest and get going on projects that pensions can help finance. “You can prescribe, but nothing will happen unless you have proper projects,” Leon Campher, the chief executive officer of the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa, an industry body of fund managers and insurers, said in an interview in Johannesburg. “The savings industry would...

France. How Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms could paralyse his presidency

Last Friday, the Paris transport system came to a standstill. Employees at RATP, the company that runs the metro and bus lines as well as suburban RER trains, launched the biggest French strike for more than a decade: between 60 and 98 per cent of the workforce took action, according to trade unions. With ten metro lines completely closed and buses, trams and RER trains scarcely running, the strike wreaked havoc on Paris streets. People resorted to cars to...

France. Lawyers, doctors, nurses protest pension changes

Thousands of French professionals, including lawyers and doctors, took to the streets of Paris Monday in the latest protest against the government's planned pension changes. The protest saw lawyers, doctors, nurses and others in regulated professions vent their displeasure at the proposed changes that President Emmanuel Macron's government says will simplify France's convoluted pensions system. The government has promised the legal retirement age of 62 won't change, but new conditions may encourage people to work longer. A large majority...

ECB Has $51 Billion Fund Questioning Future of Inflation Hedging

The European Central Bank’s latest round of easing sent a signal to institutional investors that their inflation hedges may be growing more pointless by the day. In the northernmost corner of the euro zone, a $51 billion pension fund says ECB President Mario Draghi isn’t giving his industry much hope that things will improve. “So far, the less you’ve hedged, the better off you’ve been,” Reima Rytsola, the chief investment officer of Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co., said in...

Where is the increase to pension in Russia ?

Now it is safe to say that with fanfare announced the increase to pension to pensioners in the amount of $ 1000 has not led to the desired result.   In the first quarter of 2019, a significant number of pensioners began to complain about rising prices and argue that even the increased pensions they don’t have enough for a decent life.   Moreover, we must honestly admit that a significant number of pensioners received a pension less than...

Robo-Advisors: Investing Through Machines

By Facundo Abraham, Sergio L. Schmukler, José Tessada Investing through online automated platforms, known as robo-advisors, is increasingly popular. Robo-advisors expand access to wealth management services by making it easier and less costly to open investments accounts and receive financial advice, as well as plan and automate investment decisions. However, the rise of robo-advisors requires consumers to understand the limitations of these services and to get proper financial education. Policy makers need to grapple with the impact of robo-advisors...

Reforming Social Security: The Challenge of Income Inequality

By David W. Rasmussen Objective: This article examines the role Social Security plays in alleviating poverty among retirees in the context of threats to its solvency. Method: Examining long-term employment trends, declining access to defined benefit pensions and saving behavior can determine if in the more future Social Security beneficiaries are likely to be poor. Results: Labor market trends driven by technical change, global competition and increasing demand for services indicate that more future retirees will have lower life-time...

Will More Workers Have Nontraditional Jobs as Globalization and Automation Spread?

Matthew S. Rutledge,Gal Wettstein, Sara Ellen King Recent research has called attention to alternative employment arrangements that often leave workers without retirement and health benefits and with income instability. At the same time, workers are facing increasing competition from automation and globalization. This competition is of special concern for older workers, who increasingly need longer careers to secure an adequate retirement and jobs with benefits to enable saving and access to affordable health care. The question is: are these...