February 2021

México. La pandemia hace que se disparen quejas por expediente electrónico

Las quejas de usuarios de las Afores relacionadas con la integración de su expediente electrónico, requisito para trámites como la pensión o retiro por desempleo, se incrementaron más de 500 por ciento anual en 2020, según datos del acuerdo con los registros de la Comisión Nacional para la Protección y Defensa de los Usuarios de Servicios Financieros (Condusef). El expediente electrónico es un archivo digital que contiene todos los documentos de los aforados, con datos personales, fotografía y biométricos como...

Chile. AFP: 2020 se corona como el año con la mayor cantidad de traspasos desde el debut de los multifondos

Salvo ciertas restricciones para quienes están por jubilarse, actualmente Chile es el único país de Latinoamérica donde no existe prohibición de realizar traspasos voluntarios entre multifondos. En los últimos años, la fuerza que han ido ganando estos cambios, llegó a tal punto que en 2020 se registraron 10.936.987 traspasos totales, siendo la mayor cantidad desde que se crearon los multifondos en 2002. De acuerdo con el análisis de la consultora Ciedess, dicha cantidad representó un aumento 334,8% al comparar con la situación observada en 2019. Esto significó...

Major UK pensions bill becomes law

The UK’s Pension Schemes Bill became law today upon receiving Royal Assent, with the government describing the event as confirming “the biggest shake-up of UK pensions for decades”. Introduced in the House of Lords in January 2020, the bill completed its passage through parliament last month after the government gave reassurances in relation to proposed funding rules. Read also UK roundup: £1trn of DB pension risk to be insured by 2031, says Hymans Guy Opperman, minister for pensions, said the Royal Asset...

Danish pension giant ATP makes first investment in social bonds

Denmark’s ATP, one of the first pension funds globally to buy green bonds, has made its first investments in so-called social bonds as part of its sustainable portfolio, it said on Thursday. Social bonds, which are debt issued for socially beneficial projects such as eradicating child labour or strengthening workers’ rights, have caught the eye of investors during the COVID-19 pandemic, when ethical investments have surged. “In 2020, we decided to take it one step further and expand our universe to...

US. House Includes Pension Reform Plan in COVID-19 Relief Bill

The House Ways and Means Committee has included a pension reform provision in a COVID-19 relief bill that would create a special financial assistance program to help multiemployer pension plans and extend amortization periods for single-employer plans. Read also US. AIG to pay New York $12M for unlicensed pension risk transfer business The Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021, which is included in the bill, would create a special financial assistance program under which cash payments would be...

UK roundup: £1trn of DB pension risk to be insured by 2031, says Hymans

Recent analysis by Hymans Robertson shows that £1trn (€1.13trn) of risk from defined benefit (DB) pension schemes is expected to have been insured by the end of 2031. The analysis showed that since the pension risk transfer market took off in 2007, buy-ins/buy-outs (£180bn) and longevity swaps (£110bn) have already insured £300bn of risk from DB pension schemes. Further analysis by the consultancy points to an additional £700bn of DB pension scheme risk being insured by the end of 2031, resulting...

Millennials’ Adoption of Personal Financial Management (PFM) Technology and Financial Behavior

By Brian Walsh, HanNa Lim This paper uses the Technology Acceptance Model to analyze the factors associated with personal financial management technology (PFM) adoption among millennials and extends the analysis to understand how PFM adoption is associated with financial behavior. Data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study was used for this analysis. Evidence suggests that millennials engaging in digital side hustles, such as Uber or Lyft, are significantly more likely to adopt PFM technology. Individuals experiencing higher financial pressure...

Income and Saving Responses to Tax Incentives for Private Retirement Savings

By Marc K. Chan, Todd Morris, Cain Polidano, Ha Vu Many governments offer tax concessions for retirement contributions to boost retirement savings and alleviate the fiscal pressures of population aging. In this paper, we show that income responses are crucial for understanding these impacts. Using tax-register data, we study large changes in caps on tax-favored contributions to individual retirement accounts in Australia. We find that higher caps increase retirement contributions considerably, with around two-thirds of this response financed by increases...

Late-Career Unemployment Shocks, Pension Outcomes and Unemployment Insurance

By Samir Elsadek Mahmoudi In response to unemployment shocks, older workers deplete their 401(k)s, particularly after the waiving of the early withdrawal penalty on unemployment-motivated withdrawals at age 55. This paper shows that Unemployment Insurance (UI) keeps older workers from depleting their 401(k) assets following job losses. UI also incentivizes older unemployed workers to delay claiming their Social Security (SS) benefits beyond the earliest age of eligibility, 62. Overall, UI enhances the retirement income of the individuals having a history...

México. Pese a pandemia y a ser voluntaria, afiliación de trabajadoras del hogar al IMSS subió

Carmen es trabajadora del hogar. Hace unos meses tuvo una caída y por primera vez pudo acceder a servicios médicos gratuitos gracias a que está afiliada a la Prueba Piloto para empleadas como ella del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS). Pero reconoce que no fue a ella a quien se le ocurrió inscribirse, porque cualquier trámite de gobierno le parece burocrático, sino que fue su patrona, con la que lleva trabajando 24 de sus 49 años, quien le...