October 2020

EU seeks to boost eurozone with green bond program

The European Union wants to lift the GDP of the eurozone economy by 3% by 2027 through borrowing under a new green and social bond program agreed to in September, attendees heard Tuesday during a webinar. Read also Latin America’s new poor The recovery program, which will launch with a €100 billion ($117.2 billion) SURE bond program, is a "game changer" for investors from United States and Asia because it will help to establish a euro-denominated green and social...

What Does Retirement Look Like in a Pandemic?

David Jarmul and his wife, Champa, long envisioned what their retirement would look like. After returning from a two-year Peace Corps stint in Moldova in 2018, the couple, both 67, planned extensive travel, including trips to the Baltics, West Africa and Sri Lanka. “Travel is our passion — it’s what we love to do,” said Mr. Jarmul, who retired in 2015 as head of news and communications for Duke University. For now, the two are living a Covid-19 retirement...

Canada. The Minister of Finance tables Bill 68 to allow the establishment of target benefit pension plans

Minister of Finance Eric Girard today tabled in the National Assembly Bill 68, the Act mainly to allow the establishment of target benefit pension plans (TBPP). In addition to offering Québec workers an additional savings option, the bill satisfies the needs of employers and employees, especially from the standpoint of sharing financial risks. A target benefit pension plan includes the characteristics of a defined-benefit pension plan and a defined contribution plan: the plan guarantees participants the payment of an...

Government unlikely to target South Africa’s retirement funds

The Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA) says that government is unlikely to force retirement funds to invest in specific projects through prescribed assets. Leon Campher, chief executive of ASISA, said that in recent months the various National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) partners, namely government, labour, business and community, tabled their economic recovery plans and not a single one mentioned the prescription of assets as a possible solution. “It needs to be noted that not...

US. Half the population struggles with retirement

Way back in 1992, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article warned that “[w]ith savings rates down, the future of Social Security in question and traditional plans going the way of the eight-track tape, experts say there’s a retirement crisis looming in America.” Read also US. Can designing DC plans with deferred income annuity options help fill the pension gap? A non-stop drumbeat of articles featuring similar warnings have continued down to the present day, although “retirement crisis” remains opaque as a...

UK. New pensions dashboards will save British workers billions

Today in Britain, we know that our population over the age of 65 is growing. By 2024, 24 per cent will be over 65. In my own constituency of Grantham and Stamford, 30 per cent of the population today is over the age of 65. Britain may be getting older, but our pensions system needs to be modernised. The government’s Pension Scheme Bill aims to do exactly that. The bill does three things. Firstly it gives The Pensions Regulator...

Nigeria. Workers withdraw N2.56 billion in 25% early pension withdrawal

This is in line with the provisions of the Pension Reforms Act 2014, which allows pension fund contributors to withdraw 25% of their contributions if they lose their jobs and have not found any in 4 months. Read also Government unlikely to target South Africa’s retirement funds This was confirmed by the Pension Commission in its second quarter report published on its website. According to the data, about 4,688 Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders were disengaged from work but unable...

LDI immune to COVID-19 but lack of diversification persists

Bookended by two “once in a generation” crises, the past decade was full of surprises, including a double bull market for both equities and fixed income. However, despite record-breaking returns in equity and fixed-income markets, the funded status of the pension plans of companies in the S&P 500 index, in aggregate, exhibited an L-shaped recovery. To answer why funded status did not keep up with soaring equity and bond returns, Voya Investment Management analyzed publicly available information published in...

UK launches scheme to help new COVID jobless back into work

The British government launched a new employment programme on Monday aimed at helping those left jobless due to the COVID-19 pandemic to get back into work. The Department for Work and Pensions said the Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS) scheme would be backed by a 238 million pound investment. The ministry said jobseekers put forward for the scheme would have access to tailored, flexible support to quickly get back into employment. This could involve specialist advice on how people...

More sponsors in U.K. embrace outsourcing

Multiemployer providers see influx as plan trustees move to cut costs, meet regulations Multiemployer plan providers in the U.K. are winning more defined contribution business as sponsoring employers have been more decisive about outsourcing under the pandemic-induced lockdown. The heightened interest comes as U.K. employers were already increasingly considering outsourcing plan assets to multiemployer plans, known in the U.K. as master trusts, to cut costs at a time when the government has been increasing trustee duties and decreasing support....