March 2020

10Mar

What the coronavirus market fall means for UK pensions

Savers are nursing losses approaching 10% in their pension schemes since the start of the coronavirus market panic, while holders of share Isas have lost as much as a quarter of all their money in some funds. The stock market rout means someone who had accumulated £250,000 in their pension scheme at the start of this year will have seen it shrivel to about £225,000 on Monday. Holders of final salary-style pensions, mostly in the public sector, lose nothing...

March 10, 2020
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
10Mar

Norway’s Pension Giant Calls for Improved ESG Metrics

Norway’s $1.07 trillion Government Pension Fund Global, which owns stakes in more than 9,200 companies and owns 1.5% of all listed stocks, is pressing the companies it invests in to provide more tangible data regarding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. The fund said it’s no longer enough to hear promises of responsible investing, and that it’s time for companies to start providing hard data to show they’re being true to their word. “In recent years, we have...

March 10, 2020
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
09Mar

Reverse Mortgages, Financial Inclusion, and Economic Development: Potential Benefit and Risks

By Peter Knaack, Margaret Miller, Fiona Stewart This paper examines the state of reverse mortgage markets in selected countries around the world and considers the potential benefits and risks of these products from a financial inclusion and economic benefit standpoint. Despite potentially increasing demand from aging societies -- combined with limited pension income -- a series of market failures constrain supply and demand. The paper discusses a series of market failures on the supply side, such as adverse selection,...

March 9, 2020
Articles, Pension design, , ,
Read more...
07Mar

Employee Representation and the Risk of Corporate Pension Plans

By Nicola Heusel We analyze the effect of direct labour representation in supervisory boards on the risk of corporate pension plans.We exploit employee representation requirements mandated by German labour law and find that firms with parity employee representation reduce pension plan risk both in terms of funding as well as in terms of investment risk. Source: SSRN

March 7, 2020
Articles, Labor Market, , ,
Read more...
07Mar

Financial Operating Systems

By Dirk A. Zetzsche, William A. Birdthistle, Douglas W. Arner, Ross P. Buckley One of the most consequential and unexamined developments in global finance has been the recent emergence of massive concentrations of financial technology under the control of individual firms. These financial operating systems are, like computing operating systems, relatively inconspicuous yet extraordinarily powerful. They already dominate the world’s $50 trillion investment fund industry, where they play a critical role in asset management for pensions and institutional investors,...

March 7, 2020
Articles, Pension design,
Read more...
07Mar

Understanding Debt in the Older Population

By Annamaria Lusardi, Olivia S. Mitchell, Noemi Oggero Poor financial capability can have important consequences for wellbeing in later life. To explore aspects of financial management related to debt, we have designed and analyzed a new module in the 2018 Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We use these new data, along with information from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), to evaluate the factors associated with debt and debt management close to retirement. We show that a sizeable...

March 7, 2020
Aging, Articles, , ,
Read more...
06Mar

UK. PLSA Calls for Pensions to Hold Companies Accountable for Climate Change

In its updated annual stewardship and voting guide, the UK’s Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), whose members are responsible for approximately £1 trillion ($1.28 trillion) in pension assets, said plan investors need to hold the directors of the companies they invest in accountable for the way they manage climate change risks. The guidelines are intended to be a resource to provide pension trustees with practical guidance when considering how to exercise their votes at annual general meetings. The...

March 6, 2020
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
06Mar

DC Plan Assets Funneling Into Target Date Funds

Target-date funds have substantially grown in popularity within employer-sponsored defined contribution retirement plans, according to a survey released Wednesday by NEPC, an independent investment consulting firm. As of the end of 2019, 39% of assets in defined contribution plans were in target date funds while only 22% were in 2010. The number of plans offering target date fund investment options has remained steady at 96% of plans, said the “Defined Contribution Plan & Fee Survey” by Boston-based NEPC. Ross...

March 6, 2020
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
06Mar

Diving Into Three of Africa’s Emerging Fintech Economies

For many, Africa represents the final frontier of untapped economic growth. Across its diverse countries, growth rates continue to outpace those achieved in long-developed economies. Collectively, growth) on the continent stabilized at 3.4% in 2019, and is forecast to reach 3.9% in 2020 and 4.1% in 2021. While these numbers remain below historical highs, fundamentals continue to improve as economies shift from local consumption to external investments. Of the 30 fastest growing cities in the world, 21 are in...

March 6, 2020
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
06Mar

BBC coronavirus UK warning: Pensioners face ‘rapid increase’ in risk of death from illness

Sir Patrick Vallance outlined that the mortality rate of COVID-19 cases for people over the age of 80 is around eight percent, he then contrasted this with the mortality rate for children under which is "essentially zero". The Government chief scientific adviser stated that this was due to the likelihood of people over the age of 80 to have co-existing illnesses in comparison to any other demographic. Sir Patrick Vallance said: "Older people are vulnerable to all sorts of...

March 6, 2020
News, Slider, , , , ,
Read more...