April 2020

23Apr

Australia. Deloitte Digital develops chatbot for swamped pension funds

Due to Covid-19 disruption, superannuation funds are being swamped with enquiries. In a rapid response to client demand, Deloitte Digital has managed to develop a ‘Covid-19 Super Bot’ to help funds manage the huge rise in the number of requests coming their way. Read also Tesla appoints former head of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund to its board For most superannuation funds in Australia, the nature of enquiries flowing in is considerably predictable. But following the Australian government’s recently announced...

April 23, 2020
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22Apr

US. Trump pressed to halt federal pension investments in China’s ZTE, Hikvision: Reuters

Lawmakers and former officials are making a last-ditch push to persuade the Trump administration to halt plans to invest billions of federal employee retirement dollars in Chinese companies that Washington suspects of human rights abuses or threatening U.S. security, according to sources and documents seen by Reuters. Read also Coronavirus will make US cities feel the pressure of pension debt The campaign, which includes letters and calls from Republicans and a sharply worded memo shared with White House Chief of...

April 22, 2020
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22Apr

Ireland. Over 1 MILLION people now claiming social protection payments

The number of people now claiming some form of social protection payment has exceeded 1m after another 50,000 people received the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment. The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has issued the €350 weekly payment to 584,000 people who have lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus, adding to the 212,000 people in the Live Register. A further 46,000 employers have signed up to the newly expanded wage subsidy scheme, with over 281,200...

April 22, 2020
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22Apr

Kenya needs better social protection programmes during Covid-19

While scrolling through Twitter, it is likely that you will come across a post appealing for food aid. As Kenya recorded its 197th confirmed Covid-19 case in early April, many enterprises had reduced their operations, or closed down, causing massive losses in livelihoods. The economic impact has, in turn, increased the prevalence of food-insecure households. Although Kenya has set up a Covid-19 Emergency Fund, it does not currently support provision of food for the most vulnerable households. On Friday,...

April 22, 2020
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22Apr

Australia. 500 firms to stop pension top-ups over coronavirus

Hundreds of companies are expected to abandon attempts to fill shortfalls in their pension schemes during the coronavirus crisis. The finding from pension experts suggests "top-up" contributions will be cut by at least £500m. Debenhams has already missed a payment and the Arcadia group, which owns Topshop, plans to stop them temporarily. Regulators are permitting the suspensions to help businesses survive. The pension schemes affected are the most valuable for staff because they guarantee a retirement income based on...

April 22, 2020
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21Apr

US Public Pension Funding Levels Plunge to 66% in Q1

The funded level of the 100 largest US public defined benefit pension plans plunged to 66% during the first quarter from 74.9% at the end of last year, according to Milliman. It was the largest quarterly drop in the history of the firm’s public pension funding index (PPFI), and it eliminated the funding level improvements made during 2019. Volatility from the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in net negative cash flow of approximately $24 billion and a $419 billion loss in...

April 21, 2020
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21Apr

Debt headache compounds Kenya’s worries amid fears for economy

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to be felt in July when the country will need Sh630 billion to settle debts that will fall due. Kenya’s total debt reached a new high of Sh6.3 trillion on March 20. This position has been made worse by the depreciation of the shilling, which has reached an average of Sh106.7 to the dollar, one of the lowest this month. The debt position will get worse in coming months as...

April 21, 2020
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21Apr

PensionBee: Coronavirus will see greater engagement with pensions

Clare Reilly, head of corporate development at PensionBee, believes the current challenging economic conditions could lead people to engage with their pensions more closely. Having noticed a sharp decline in their pensions’ fortunes in recent weeks, people may begin to look more closely at what their money is invested in and what causes it to go up or down. “We have very low levels of financial literacy in this country and people generally don’t engage with their pensions, which...

April 21, 2020
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18Apr

Pension Funding Index April 2020

By Charles J. Clark and Zorast Wadia Milliman analysis: Corporate pensions in March see surprising $93 billion funded status gain from massive surge in discount rates, despite heavy investment losses Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio improves to 85.6% The funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans rose by $93 billion during March as measured by the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index (PFI). The funded status deficit improved to $255 billion at the end of March...

April 18, 2020
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17Apr

Culture and Gender Allocation of Tasks: Source Country Characteristics and the Division of Non-Market Work among US Immigrants

By Francine D. Blau, Lawrence M. Kahn, Matthew Comey, Amanda Eng, Pamela Meyerhofer, Alexander Willen There is a well-known gender difference in time allocation within the household, which has important implications for gender differences in labor market outcomes. We ask how malleable this gender difference in time allocation is to culture. In particular, we ask if US immigrants allocate tasks differently depending upon the characteristics of the source countries from which they emigrated. Using data from the 2003-2017 waves...

April 17, 2020
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