August 2020

07Aug

Sorry, But The World’s Best Pension Funds Are Canadian: McGill University & CEM Benchmarking

Canada’s pension funds are beating peers globally in investment performance and are stronger at hedging against liability risks, according to research from McGill University and CEM Benchmarking. Their success is partly explained by the fact they are more likely to manage their assets in-house, McGill researchers Sebastien Betermier and Quentin Spehner, along with CEM’s Alexander Beath and Chris Flynn, wrote in a July paper. The authors’ findings are based on a study of pensions, endowments, and sovereign wealth...

August 7, 2020
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07Aug

AIG expands pension risk transfer reinsurance activities in Q2

American International Group (AIG), the global insurance and reinsurance player, has expanded its activities in the pension risk transfer space during the second-quarter of this year. Reporting its results recently, AIG highlighted the Life and Retirement business segment as one experiencing strong premium growth. AIG explained that its Life and Retirement division recorded income of $881 million, down $168 million compared to the prior year quarter driven by private equity losses, continued spread compression on the investment portfolio and...

August 7, 2020
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06Aug

Canada. Government releases draft pension and deferred salary leave plan regulations

As part of the government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, on July 2 the Department of Finance Canada announced the release of proposed draft regulations that would amend the Income Tax Regulations (draft regulations) in order to assist sponsors of registered pension plans (RPPs) and deferred salary leave plans (DSLPs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, through the provision of temporary relief from certain requirements under the Income Tax Act. The draft regulations address the following matters: Adding stop-the-clock rules...

August 6, 2020
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05Aug

Your Pension May Be Gambling On Human Life, Profiting From COVID Deaths

Whether you know it or not, your pension may be gambling on highly-speculative life settlement funds which profit when people die prematurely from COVID. Life settlement funds are controversial for a host of obvious and not-so-obvious reasons. Read also Coronavirus is creating retirement insecurity. These 10 steps can diffuse the timebomb of an ageing population These investments in a pension ensuring the retirement security of workers is doubly problematic. Many public and private pensions are gambling on highly speculative funds...

August 5, 2020
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05Aug

Retirement anxiety heightened by COVID-19

The song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” describes how people feel about retirement these days. That’s the song chosen by nearly half of the respondents in a survey released on July 29 by the Alliance for Lifetime Income, a nonprofit educating Americans about protected lifetime income in retirement. Most people surveyed (7 out of 10) say “the pandemic has made them more pessimistic about their retirement plans” (with 63% being somewhat more pessimistic and 7% much more...

August 5, 2020
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04Aug

Coronavirus is creating retirement insecurity. These 10 steps can diffuse the timebomb of an ageing population

To redesign a retirement that builds the necessary financial resilience for longer lives, the World Economic Forum and Mercer have created a ten-point checklist to redesign retirement. Safeguarding financial wellness requires an all-encompassing view of a person. This means considering their tangible assets (including savings and property), but also less tangible assets such as health, skills and career readiness to work longer. It will also require coordinated efforts across stakeholder groups, including individuals, employers, financial services providers and governments....

August 4, 2020
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04Aug

UK. FTSE 350 pension deficit rises as COVID19 lockdown eases

Mercer’s Pensions Risk Survey data shows that the accounting deficit of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes for the UK’s 350 largest listed companies increased from £90bn at the end of June 2020 to £103bn on 31 July. Liability values rose by £13bn to £970bn at the end of July compared with £957bn at the end of June. Asset values were £867bn (unchanged since the end of June). Charles Cowling, Chief Actuary, Mercer, said: “Pension scheme deficits worsened again...

August 4, 2020
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04Aug

Women Are Leading Latin America’s Fintech Revolution

Finance services is an industry that has been particularly male-dominated, with women holding less than 10 percent of senior positions. Despite predictions that the fintech industry could disrupt the gender balance in the traditional finance sector, female leadership in fintech remains low in most of the world. Read also How to Improve Women’s Retirement Savings: Brookings In Latin America, however, women are stepping up as fintech leaders, with five times as many female-founded fintechs as the global average. The Latin...

August 4, 2020
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03Aug

Nearly 1 in 5 Americans Is Delaying Retirement Due to COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge financial impact since cases first started multiplying rapidly back in March. Now, almost five months later, unemployment is still rampant and the economy is stuck deep in recession territory. Read aslo US. Beleaguered Public Pension Funds Make Record Gains in Second Quarter All of this is causing Americans to rethink their near-term and long-term financial plans, so it's not surprising to learn that 19% of U.S. adults now intend to push back their...

August 3, 2020
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July 2020

31Jul

COVID-19 Pandemic to Intensify Risks for Insurers: EU Regulator

Insurers in the European Union are confronted with risks on several fronts that are intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, and could face lengthy legal battles from claims relating to lockdowns, the bloc’s insurance watchdog said on Thursday. Read also Jamaica. COVID Economic Task Force Favours Lifting Pension Investment Limits Insurers and reinsurers had a “solid and comfortable” capital buffer going into the crisis, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) said in a Financial Stability Report. However, a high...

July 31, 2020
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