March 2019

First Joint Venture gets go ahead to develop pension insurance business in China

China has given permission to a joint venture (JV) to establish a pension insurance company in the country, making it the first JV that has gained access to this sector. The JV, Heng An Standard Life, was formed in 2003 and is 50-50 owned by Scotland-headquartered Standard Life Aberdeen and Tianjin TEDA International at the end of 2018. The new entity will be the country's first foreign-funded pension insurance company, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said Wednesday...

How biomaterials will support China’s ageing population

Chunying Chen remembers the first nanomedicine conference held in China, which took place in 2015. “It was small. Just 500 people,” she says. “Three years later, it had almost tripled in size.” In the past decade, the chemist has also seen her budget for research into how to use nanomaterials to diagnose and treat malignant tumours triple. Her country is investing increasing amounts of money into materials research that relates to health care. Areas such as drug delivery, bone regeneration...

China. Gov’t raises basic pension of seniors

The government has increased basic aged-care pension by 5 percent for retired personnel, according to a news release by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Wednesday. The policy, effective Jan 1, is projected to benefit 118 million employees of companies, government departments and public institutions. According to the release, increasing the basic aged-care pension will help secure retired people a happier life against the backdrop of price hike and a sustainable pension insurance fund. Read more...

Canada’s Biggest Pension Fund Mulls Opening First China Office

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which manages around C$368.5 billion ($277 billion), is considering opening its first office in China as it seeks greater exposure to the world’s second-largest economy. Canada’s largest pension fund investor could open an office in Beijing as soon as next year, Hong Kong-based head of Asia Pacific Suyi Kim said in an interview this month. Staff there would then work closely with CPPIB’s 130 employees in Hong Kong, which have helped to invest C$42...

China’s pension funds sufficient: official

China's overall income of the pension funds is greater than the expenditure, and the operation of the fund is in good condition, the finance minister said Thursday. "Nationwide, China can ensure that the pension is paid on time and in full," Minister of Finance Liu Kun told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual legislative session. Last year, the income of the corporate pension funds was 3.6 trillion yuan (536 billion U.S. dollars), while total expenditure stood...

China’s social endowment insurance covers over 523 mln people

China's social endowment insurance for rural and urban residents has covered over 523 million people by the end of 2018, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS). Over 49 million people in poverty have benefited from the insurance program directly, MOHRSS data showed. The unemployment insurance premium has allocated 1.82 billion yuan (about 272 million U.S. dollars) of living subsidies to 402,000 migrant workers who had lost their jobs, the ministry said. The social endowment...

Understanding the Spatial Disparities and Vulnerability of Population Aging in China

By Yang Cheng (Beijing Normal University (BNU)), Siyao Gao (Beijing Normal University (BNU)), Shuai Li (Beijing Normal University (BNU)), Yuchao Zhang (Independent), Mark Rosenberg (Queen's University) Understanding the regional pattern of population aging in China enables rational policy making to address the challenges of inequity in social welfare and care resources among the east–central–west regions and rural–urban areas of China. This study uses census data in 2000 and 2010, and aging population ratios, annual increase rates, and spatial auto-correlation analysis...

February 2019

Chinese firms led global fintech investments in 2018

Chinese companies accounted for almost half of all fintech investments globally last year, according to a report by consulting firm Accenture. Global investment in financial technology (fintech) companies more than doubled to $55.3 billion in 2018, with China making up $25.5 billion in transactions. «Even with the current volatility in global markets and ongoing macroeconomic concerns, investment in the fintech sector remains strong,» said Richard Lumb, group chief executive for financial services at Accenture. Overall, the number of...

January 2019

Pension Milestones: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau take key steps in 2018

Pension experts from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau exchanged views and shared best practices on pensions and retirement savings issues across the region at the 10th Annual Cross Strait Pension Forum hosted by Hong Kong Retirement Schemes Association (HKRSA). The implementation of a Central Provident Fund (CPF) in Macau and the introduction of a tax deferral scheme for private pensions in China were among key milestones in 2018 for the pension sector, according to HKRSA Chairman Janet Li....

Chinese city seeks young blood: how ageing Nanjing lures new talent

“Nanjing has for the first time entered the phase of an ‘aged-society’, and the city’s burden of looking after both the young and the old is getting greater,” Zhao Jun, deputy director of the local statistics bureau, said last year. The burden of social support and caregiving will face “steep growth” until 2050, he warned. Hence Nanjing’s desire to boost its population of educated under-40s such as Tan. It is not alone: last year, more than 20 Chinese cities...