August 2018

31Aug

Australia. RBA says outage won’t hit pension payments

Pensions and welfare payments do not appear to have been affected by the outage at the Reserve Bank of Australia’s main data centre that hit some payments systems on Thursday afternoon. In a statement issued on Thursday evening, Australia’s central bank said that “retail and corporate customers are able to make and receive payments including payments made through the New Payments Platform.” Crucially, the RBA said “domestic payments, including pensions, are also being processed.” The prospect of government payments being hit by...

August 31, 2018
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27Aug

Australia’s Victoria state in $2 bln land title register deal with pension fund

Australia’s Victoria state has agreed to sell a four-decade concession to run its land and property registries to pension fund First State Super for A$2.86 billion ($2.09 billion), the government said in a statement on Monday. The deal allows First State Super to levy fees for property ownership registrations in Australia’s fastest growing state for 40 years, while the government plans to spend the proceeds on schools, hospitals and transport projects, the statement said. This will give “a major boost to...

August 27, 2018
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17Aug

Australia’s AMP back in inquiry hot seat as pension transfers challenged

The disclosures are the latest blow to the once-venerable firm which could face criminal charges over misconduct earlier uncovered by the inquiry. AMP has lost almost 30 percent of its market value since the inquiry began in February. Richard Allert, chairman of AMP Super, which by law must manage retirement savings in the best interests of customers, said under questioning that he was surprised to see internal company documents tabled at the inquiry saying the transfers were not legally documented. Michael...

August 17, 2018
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14Aug

Commonwealth Bank of Australia breached pension rules, inquiry hears

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) “breached a legislative provision” when it failed to transfer 15,000 pension customers to a low-cost product, an inquiry into financial sector conduct heard on Tuesday. Documents read at the Royal Commission showed the bank failed to comply with a law introduced in 2014 to provide low-cost retirement funds - dubbed superannuation funds - to some clients who did not choose a specific retirement savings product. Michael Hodge, the barrister assisting the commission, said that as such,...

August 14, 2018
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07Aug

Australia. Two regulators are enough – perhaps more than enough

It is tempting to join the media pile-on about the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s apparent lack of action on underperforming superannuation funds, but in terms of true legal powers, the regulator appears to have more bark than bite. This point will probably loom large in the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry’s fifth round of hearings. This latest round began yesterday and will put the focus on superannuation for a fortnight. We know APRA and the...

August 7, 2018
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July 2018

23Jul

Migration helps balance our ageing population – we don’t need a moratorium

Australia’s population is set to reach 25 million in the coming weeks. This is much earlier than expected. Eighteen years ago, projections estimated Australia’s population wouldn’t get to 25 million until 2041. Western Australian Liberal Senator Dean Smith last week proposed a moratorium on immigration to give Australia some time to “breathe” and take stock. Claiming concerns over planning and infrastructure failing to meet population needs, Smith signalled Australia was unprepared, having relied on inaccurate population projections. Immigration is often targeted...

July 23, 2018
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09Jul

Financial stability implications of a prolonged period of low interest rates

From  Committee on the Global Financial System The decade following the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) has been marked by historically low interest rates. An environment characterised by "low-for-long" interest rates may dampen the profitability and strength of financial firms and thus become a source of vulnerability for the financial system. In addition, low rates could change firms' incentives to take risks, which could engender additional financial sector vulnerabilities. This report identifies and provides evidence for the channels through which a "low-for-long"...

July 9, 2018
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June 2018

04Jun

Management and Regulation of Pension Schemes: Australia a Cautionary Tale (Routledge Research in Finance and Banking Law)

By Nicholas Morris Perhaps the greatest long-term challenge facing modern economies is how to pay for the living expenses and care costs of the elderly. Following policy decisions made in Australia in the 1990s, a substantial part of the pension requirements of the next cohort of retirees will be met from savings accumulated during working years. The effective management of these savings is crucial. If they are invested wisely, the assets available to fund pensions and care will grow; if...

June 4, 2018
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May 2018

16May

The pensioners retiring overseas because they can’t afford Australia

On a cobbled street in the south of Spain, Norah Ohrt lives like a typical Andalusian in a little white house with red flowers blooming from the windows. It's a world away from what her life would be like if she was still living in Australia. The 71-year-old former gallery owner says that in Perth she'd be living in state housing, surviving "on the smell of an oily rag on the Australian pension". With property prices and cost of living on...

May 16, 2018
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December 2017