May 2024
10May

Ghana. PFAG, IPTC partner to provide pensions for smallholder farmers

The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) and the Industrial Pensions Trust Company (IPTC) have launched a significant partnership with the goal of offering affordable, flexible, and sustainable retirement planning products through the Nkɔsoɔ Pensions and Welfare Scheme for smallholder farmers. This momentous occasion took place at the PFAG pre-season durbar and inaugural Peasant Farmers Day Celebration held in Navrongo, Ghana, on April 25, 2024. Themed ‘Deepening the Role of Smallholder Farmers in Promoting Food and Nutrition Security in the...

May 10, 2024
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08May

Introduction of Auto-Enrolment in Ireland, is set to be the biggest development in pensions in a generation

The much-heralded introduction of Auto-Enrolment in Ireland, is set to be the biggest development in pensions in a generation. Targeted directly at increasing the proportion of private sector workers with pension savings, Ireland will be following in the footsteps of several other countries including Australia, New Zealand and the UK, where the auto-enrolment model is already well established. In fact, Ireland is the last OECD country to introduce Auto-Enrolment (AE). By adopting a proven blueprint, it is reasonable to anticipate...

May 8, 2024
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07May

UK. DB and DC Participant Access Update

Private industry workers have a roughly 67% chance of having access to a defined contribution retirement plan and a 15% chance of being offered a defined benefit option, according to the most recent estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of those workers with DB access, 11% are taking advantage of the benefit, according to the government department. In the DC space, 49% of workers are reportedly saving into the plans. The data, which was released April 19, is drawn from...

May 7, 2024
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06May

China. 1.07 billion people in basic pension scheme

China has been improving its social insurance system to better support development, with the number of participants in the basic pension reaching 1.07 billion by the end of March, a year-on-year increase of 14 million, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said. There were 240 million participants in the unemployment insurance scheme, up 4.49 million, and 290 million participants in the employment injury insurance scheme, up 5.58 million. From January to March, the total income of the basic pension,...

May 6, 2024
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April 2024
22Apr

Less than half of Malaysians are insured as we become an ageing society

Less than 50% of Malaysians are insured, according to insurance industry players. They said that getting insurance is especially important for the public to shield themselves from unexpected illnesses in old age as the country moves toward an ageing society. Insurance industry players said medical claim payouts had increased in the last two years, with a surge of 14.9%, from RM13.4bil in 2022 to RM15.4bil last year. They also pointed to the 41.4% hike in disability payments and a 26.2% rise in...

April 22, 2024
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12Apr

The Race/Ethnicity Gap in Retirement Plan Participation: More than Just Demographics

By David Blanchett American companies have been actively shifting away from defined benefit (DB) plans towards defined contribution (DC) plans for decades. This shift places more burden on workers to make decisions like whether to participate in the retirement plan, how much to save, and how to invest those savings. This analysis explores how participation in a workforce retirement plan varies by race and ethnicity leveraging data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the 2023 Current Population...

April 12, 2024
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01Apr

Kenya. Treasury to spend Sh255 million on increasing pension coverage

The Treasury has lined up a series of reforms to the country’s retirement benefits policy to boost access for informal, diaspora, and short-term workers, which are set to cost up to Sh255 million by December next year. In Kenya, an estimated 3.5 million people, or 25 percent of the workforce, are covered by retirement benefit schemes, according to the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA), meaning the majority of Kenyans will retire poor. The new measures outlined in the newly published National...

April 1, 2024
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March 2024
27Mar

Surge in China personal pension accounts, contributions lag

The number of personal pension fund accounts surged last year, but the scheme designed to shore up China’s pension system remained hamstrung by low contributions and a lack of investment, reports Caixin. More than 50 million people had set up personal pension accounts as of the end of last year, Zhai Yanli, director-general of the Social Insurance Management Center at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said Wednesday at an industry conference in Beijing. The number was up from...

March 27, 2024
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26Mar

What we must do to expand pension coverage in Kenya

By SIMON WAFUBWA   Significant progress in the pension sector has been made in the past two decades and we continue to see growth every year. According to the Retirement Benefits Authority, Kenya’s Pension Assets stood at Sh1.7 trillion by the end of June 2023. This marked an 8.1 percent growth compared to Sh1.5 trillion the previous year. However, as a country, we still have certain challenges to overcome to ensure the financial security of the entire population during their retirement years. The...

March 26, 2024
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February 2024
28Feb

US. People want pension plans, worry about retirement security – NIRS

National anxiety about retirement security continues to grow, and the vast majority of Americas believe all workers should have a pension plan, according to a new report from the National Institute for Retirement Security. According to the report, 79% of respondents to a national public opinion poll of working-age Americans believe that the nation faces a retirement crisis, up from 67% that expressed that sentiment in 2020, the last time NIRS conducted such a poll. Also, 83% of respondents said they...

February 28, 2024
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