September 2019

13Sep

France. Paris traffic gridlock as metro workers strike over pension reform

Paris metro workers walked off the job Friday over plans for a major overhaul of the pension system, sparking huge traffic jams as commuters scrambled to find other ways of getting to work. Ten of the city's 16 metro lines were shut down completely, while service on most others was "extremely disrupted," the city's RATP transit operator said. Massive crowds waited on the platforms of the two automated driverless lines still operating and officials counted nearly 300 kilometres (185...

September 13, 2019
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13Sep

How Making Smart Financial Decisions Can Have a Positive Impact on Climate Change

There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with managing a fund with $1.5 trillion in assets—a responsibility that Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the largest pension fund in the world, faces every day. We have more than 5,000 stocks and 3,400 bond issuers in our portfolio, and the fund is designed to operate with a 100-year, multi­generational time frame. Unlike investors with a shorter time horizon, we consider climate change to be a systemic risk affecting the entire...

September 13, 2019
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13Sep

Kenya. Treasury to introduce risk policy for financial markets

•The micro-prudential banking policy is expected to mitigate risks likely to emerge during downturns in key sectors including banks, pension schemes, insurance and capital markets to safeguard capital and liquidity adequacy. •According to National Treasury CS Ukur Yatani, the banks should assess the market to ensure that competition viewed as a sign of market dynamism, does not pose as a potential source of new risks that will have adverse consequences in the future. The National Treasury is formulating...

September 13, 2019
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12Sep

Dutch AM giant wins ESG equity mandate from pension fund

Dutch asset management firm Actiam has won a new global equity mandate that it will manage on behalf of the KAS BANK Pension Fund. Aside from a specific return target, the mandate will have to outperform the MSCI ACWI bencmark. The mandate has an initial volume of €100 million and is designed to contribute to KAS BANK Pension Fund realising its ambitions under the sustainable development goals. Commenting on the new mandate, Hans van Houwelingen, CEO at Actiam, said:...

September 12, 2019
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12Sep

Why It’s Time For More Big Foundations To Fund Aging

It’s an issue we can’t ignore: The fastest-growing age group in our population needs our help, and we’re failing them miserably. For the first time in the history of the developed world, there are more of us over age 60 than under age 5. Women who reached age 65 in 2016 can expect to live to nearly 86, and men to 83. About 17% of the U.S. population is over 65 today and, in 10 years, that number will...

September 12, 2019
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12Sep

Should Pension Funds add Bitcoin to their Portfolio?

Pension funds are considered to be among the most conservative investors nowadays, and for relatively obvious reasons. It's still hard to present blockchain, Bitcoin BTC, 2.60%, and other investing opportunities behind arising from innovative technology to future pensioners, as they are focused on steady, guaranteed paybacks of their hard-earned fiat money. Taking a closer look to European pension plans reveals that if you, for example, decided to trust the German government, or a German pension fund manager with 20,000...

September 12, 2019
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12Sep

US. Elizabeth Warren’s Plan for Social Security Looks Smart

When I was a teenager, my mom showed me a statement that she had received in the mail from the Social Security Administration. It included an annual history of her earnings, which showed a big string of zero’s covering the years when she was in her late 20s and early 30s. “That’s you and your sister,” she explained, laughing. My mom is doing just fine these days, but anyone who spends years as a stay-at-home parent — or an...

September 12, 2019
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12Sep

What ‘Retirement’ Means Now

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2028 there will be 43 million people 55 and older in the work force — nearly one-quarter of all workers. Yet even as they age, the word retirement is becoming less and less clear. For starters, people have the potential to live well into their 70s and 80s and beyond, which often makes a plan of retiring in one’s 60s less necessary or desirable. “Gone is the traditional vision of retiring,...

September 12, 2019
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11Sep

Ireland has gender pension gap of 35% – study

Irish men receive an average of €153 more than women in their pension payments, according to research by the Economic and Social Research Unit (ESRI). The study found the average total weekly pension income in 2010 was €280 for women and €433 for men, indicating a gender pension gap of approximately 35%. The total gender pension gap is due to differences in incomes from private and occupational pensions. Some 55% of retired men receive a private or occupational pension,...

September 11, 2019
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11Sep

Government’s plan to go after pension funds could financially ruin South Africans

Analysts and opposition parties have warned against government’s plans to force pension funds to invest in bonds issued by government. In August, president Cyril Ramaphosa said that South Africa should investigate using worker pensions to finance development and infrastructure projects. “We need to discuss this matter (prescribed assets) and we need to discuss it with a view to actually saying what is it we can do to utilise the various resources in our country to generate growth in a...

September 11, 2019
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