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July 2020

UK. Impact of COVID-19 on life expectancy could reduce pension scheme liabilities by up to £90bn

Impact of COVID-19 on life expectancy could reduce pension scheme liabilities by up to £90bn New XPS forecasting shows long-term vulnerabilities in pension schemes following the pandemic. In some scenarios the long-term economic impact of COVID-19 on life expectancy could be 50% higher than the short-term impact of the pandemic. The economic impact on schemes' assets is also a significant consideration. Especially for those schemes holding growth assets and/or with low hedging ratios. Read also UK. Cybercrime and Pensions...

US. Milliman analysis: Corporate pension funded ratio at 83.7% in June as discount rate hits historic low

Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today released the results of its latest Pension Funding Index (PFI), which analyzes the 100 largest U.S. corporate pension plans. Despite solid investment returns, June's PFI funded status worsened by $6 billion due to an 11 basis point drop in the monthly discount rate, from 2.76% in May to 2.65% for June. This month's discount rate marks the lowest observed in the 20-year history of the Milliman PFI. The PFI...

The coronavirus crisis is pushing 13 UK universities towards insolvency, study says

Social distancing measures, travel restrictions and lockdowns have tested the ability of universities to survive without students. The institutions at higher risk of collapse are those with a large share of international students and those with significant pension obligations, the IFS said. Thirteen universities, or colleges, in the U.K. are at risk of going bankrupt as the coronavirus pandemic hits their finances and challenges the entire sector, a study by Institute for Fiscal Studies warned Monday. Social distancing...

June 2020

Returning to the Core: Rediscovering a Role for Real Estate in Defined Contribution Pension Schemes

By Debbie Harrison, David P. Blake, Tony Key The objective of the research was to analyse and evaluate the role of real estate in the UK’s defined contribution (DC) pensions market in relation to auto-enrollment – the new system of pension scheme provision for private sector employees in the UK, which is being phased in by all employers between October 2012 and 2018. The most important feature of auto-enrollment schemes is the ‘default fund’, which is the multi-asset investment strategy...

U.K. deficits rise as coronavirus continues to hit markets

The total deficit of U.K. defined benefit funds covered by the Pension Protection Fund's 7800 index worsened 37% in May to £176.3 billion ($217.6 billion). The deficit was £128.5 billion as of April 30. The deficit of U.K. defined benefit funds also deteriorated over the year ended May 31, from £38.1 billion as of May 31, 2019, London-based PPF said Tuesday in an update. Read also UK. Regulator repeats anti-scam warning as £5m lost to fraud The funding ratio of...

Supreme Court Clears Bankruptcy Restructuring of Puerto Rico Government Pension Plans

On June 1, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a unanimous decision in Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment, LLC, No. 18–1334, holding that the selection of the members of the Financial and Oversight Management Board for Puerto Rico did not violate the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Consequently, the Board’s actions regarding the management and control of the budget and other financial matters of the government of Puerto Rico,...

May 2020

US pension funds approach point of no return

The issues facing public pension funds in the US are widely known, and while it's not clear how exposed to the recent market correction funds were, analysis from Wirepoints of 2018 data shows some may have reached the point of no return. Looking at asset-to-payout ratios of 148 state and local pension funds with more than US$2 billion in assets, the worst-off funds are those that are already well known for their pension shortfalls. These are in Kentucky, Illinois,...

US. How Lawmakers Can Raise Teacher Pay Without Decimating Pension Funds

When the pandemic hit, school districts across the country were in the process of giving their teachers a raise. But hiking teacher salaries now will strain state pension funds at a time when the economic fallout from the coronavirus is decimating public pension systems. In March, Moody’s Investment Service said U.S. public pension funds had already suffered nearly $1 trillion in investment losses. Lawmakers can’t make lost assets reappear. But they can take a step that will reduce future...

Firm Behaviour in Pension Funding – An Analysis of Corporate Debt Issuing

By Marion Boddy This study investigates the commonality of United States firms using the issuance of corporate debt as a tool to fund their pension plans. The results suggest a prominence of firms in the sample utilizing debt issuances to transition their fund from underfunded to overfunded. These results are indicated through a statistically significant negative relationship between the cost of debt and an underfunded indicator when regressors are lagged by one year. Results also indicate that equity issuances...

Swiss pension funding levels recover after falling below 100%

The funding ratio of Swiss Pensionskassen bounced back to 103% in April after declining to 99.8% for a short time at the end of March, according to Complementa’s latest “risk check-up” analysis report. Central banks have sent a clear message through a series of interventions to say they “stand by” the equity market “whatever it costs”, Thomas Breitenmoser, head of investment consulting at Complementa, told IPE during a conference call. The funding ratio of Swiss pension schemes will depend...