August 2020

India. Panel on labour suggests social protection for informal workers

The panel called for a framework of a model composite scheme to bring greater uniformity among states The committee sought the creation of a social security fund for unorganized sector workers The parliamentary panel on labour has batted for universal social protection for unorganized sector workers and has proposed a blueprint for the Centre to include gig-economy workers, while acknowledging rapid changes in the labour market. The parliamentary panel, which submitted its report to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla...

July 2020

China’s Policy Instruments : Tax Reduction, Retirement Prolonging and Welfare Changes

By Peilin Yang China is facing a series of significant debt problems. We have studied the changes in debt and benefits under different policy instruments under the framework of large-scale OLG. Under the three retirement ages, as the retirement age increases, the maximum increase in benefits is 17.98%, and the debt is 75.69%. Under the five tax rates, the optimal tax rate is 28%, the maximum increase in benefits is 22.65%, and the maximum debt ratio is 75%. Source:...

WhatsApp to pilot projects to deliver credit, insurance and pension to users in India

WhatsApp plans to offer credit, insurance and pension products to lower-income individuals and those in rural areas in India and help digitize local small and medium-sized businesses as the Facebook service looks to make a digital payments push in its biggest market by users. The instant messaging app maker has been working with banks -- including ICICI, Kotak Mahindra and HDFC -- in India for the past year to explore ways to bring financial services to individuals who have...

Annual Report on Financing Old Age Care in China (2017)

By Keyong Dong, Yudong Yao This book provides comprehensive analysis and descriptions of China's ageing finance system . China is undergoing the largest, fastest and longest process of population ageing in the world. It becomes a pressing challenge to the Chinese social security system in this era. Many developed countries have been going through this process. Pension and other financial tools have been studied and practiced for decades. China now is developing its own ageing finance systems by...

Protecting South Asia’s poor and vulnerable against COVID-19

By Lynne Sherburne Benz, Stefano Paternostro, Zaineb Majoka When India went into lockdown in late March as a result of COVID-19, one of the country’s biggest priorities was to ensure access to food. As millions risked starvation, the government mobilized its existing Public Distribution System (PDS) to give away food rations to over 800 million people, thus averting a catastrophic food crisis. As the coronavirus spreads exponentially across South Asia, food insecurity is just one of the many challenges...

World’s Largest Pension Fund Loses $165 Billion in Worst Quarter

The world’s biggest pension fund posted a record loss in the first three months of 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic sparked a global market rout in the period. Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund lost 11%, or 17.7 trillion yen ($164.7 billion), in the three months ended March, it said in Tokyo on Friday. Read also Raiding the pot: how the pandemic has deepened the pensions crisis The decline in value was the steepest based on comparable data back to April...

June 2020

NPS and Allianz to set up $2.3 bn Asian property fund

The National Pension Service (NPS) is to launch a $2.3 billion property fund with Germany’s Allianz SE to invest in core real estate in Asia, with the pension scheme expected to deploy at least 30 trillion won ($25 billion) in new alternative investments by year’s end. Read also Dutch schemes fail to push management fees below 0.5% threshold The 50:50 co-investment fund will target landmark office buildings and logistics and residential facilities in big cities in Asia such as Australia,...

Changes To Social Security Insurance In China

China has updated their social security insurance policies with some noteworthy changes. Jurisdiction China What's new? 1. Faster social security card application process The State Council and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will facilitate a faster application process for social security cards through the nationwide integrated online government service platform. Read also WeBank, Huawei and KPMG Share Insights on Fighting COVID – 19 with FinTech 2. Merging of Maternity Insurance with Basic Medical Insurance The State Council...

India. Govt may restrict foreign investment in pension funds

Amid LAC tension, the Finance Ministry has proposed restrictions on pension fund investments from any bordering country. Foreign investment in pension funds regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority is capped at 49 per cent under the automatic route. According to a draft notification circulated for comments on Friday, “A government approval would be required for the investing entity or individual from any of the bordering countries, including China.” The restriction will be applicable from the date...

Lawmakers Offer Help to Japanese Banks Battling Fintech Firms

Japanese ruling-party lawmakers are looking to make it easier for banks to expand into different industries, a step that could help traditional lenders push back against tech rivals. The Liberal Democratic Party’s financial policy research panel wants to amend the banking law next year to relax limits on lenders’ lines of business as well as their investments in non-financial firms. The proposal, released last week, didn’t specify which areas banks might be allowed to enter. Japan’s government has been...