September 2022

South Africa’s Eskom Recovers $1.7 Million From Ex-CEO’s Pension

South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. has recovered 30 million rand ($1.7 million) that it paid six years ago to boost the pension of former Chief Executive Officer Brian Molefe. The nation’s High Court in July reaffirmed a 2018 ruling that the payout to increase Molefe’s early-retirement benefit was unlawful, Eskom said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday. Read also Ghana. Pensions industry loses US$800 million in 2 years to weakening cedi While the amount is unlikely to...

Departing Hong Kong residents took $269 mln from pensions in Q2

Residents leaving Hong Kong for good withdrew a total of HK$2.114 billion ($269.31 million) from their pension accounts in the second quarter of 2022, up 0.9% from a year earlier, government data showed on Wednesday, a sign that more people were moving put of the financial hub. Curbs to control the spread of COVID-19 are partly blamed for a net outflow of 113,200 people from Hong Kong between mid-2021 and mid-2022, according The city had a population of around 7.29 million...

June 2022

Hong Kong Pension Pot Shrinks 11% on China Market Turmoil

It’s been a bad year for Hong Kong residents counting on Greater China for their retirement savings. The mandatory provident fund -- Hong Kong’s pension system -- has lost about 11% since the start of 2021, walloped by China’s industry crackdowns and Covid Zero policy, which overshadowed gains in US assets. That erased HK$130 billion ($17 billion) in total, or about HK$28,300 for each account at the end of May, according to researcher MPF Ratings Ltd. The retirement losses add to...

Hong Kong passes long-awaited labour bill to scrap MPF offsetting mechanism, protecting workers’ pensions

Move ends decade-long debate between bosses and unions, preventing employers from dipping into staff pensions to cover severance and long-service payments Three legislators from pro-business Liberal Party were among those who opposed bill Hong Kong’s legislature has passed a long-awaited labour bill that will stop bosses from dipping into staff pensions to cover severance and long-service payments, ensuring the city’s workers have better retirement protection. The Legislative Council on Thursday voted 72-5 to approve the Employment and Retirement Schemes Legislation...

May 2022

Impact of financial investment on the individual’s confidence of happy retirement life

By Yan-Leung Cheung, Billy S C Mak, Hao Shu & Weiqiang Tan The study examines the impact of financial investment on the individual’s confidence in happy retirement life using data from 735 respondents in the Bank Consortium Holding Limited (BCT) Public Opinion Survey on Retirement Happiness in 2017. The result shows that holding the investment portfolio with savings and risky assets is positively and significantly correlated with the individual’s confidence of happy retirement life, and this relationship is more pronounced...

UK. State pension to hit £10,600 as triple lock returns – up to £1,000 extra income next year

The State Pension could rise by almost £1,000 to more than £10,600 a year as inflation rockets past 10 percent and the triple lock is restored. Read also UK. Less than third of schemes regularly track individual fund performance This would be the single biggest increase ever and could see the new State Pension top £10,600 a year. However, those who retired before April 6, 2016, on the old State Pension will get a smaller increase. Yesterday, the Bank of England forecast...

Half of Hong Kong women face retirement income challenges

Only one in three women say they are confident in their ability to make their pension contributions, whereas 40% of men say the same, according to the Fidelity’s Global Women & Money Study 2022. Read also Millennials Will Make Impact Investing Mainstream Due to the lack of confidence in financial planning, 46% of the surveyed Hong Kong women are worried they are unprepared financially for retirement, while 43% of men felt the same. Read also On the path to bigger income in...

October 2021

Hong Kong government proposal for residents to convert pensions into annuities ‘absurd’ if made mandatory, labour minister says

A Hong Kong government proposal to encourage residents to convert their pensions into annuities would be “absurd” if made mandatory, the city’s labour minister said on Thursday. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong said that while studying the proposal was necessary, making it mandatory to convert Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) pension plans into annuities was never going to happen in Hong Kong. “If anyone just thought about it, forcing everyone in Hong Kong to switch to an annuity is absurd,...

Hong Kong Policy Address: MPF offsetting – allowing employers to dip into pensions – will be scrapped

Hong Kong’s controversial Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) offsetting mechanism will be scrapped, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on Wednesday in her policy address. The mechanism allows employers to dip into workers’ pension funds to make long-service and severance payments, a system which has come under fire for years from unions and fundholders themselves. The offsetting will be fully scrapped as early as 2025, when the launch of an electronic management platform for the MPF (eMPF) is completed. According to a government source,...

September 2021

Pension withdrawals by departing Hong Kong residents hit $270 mln in second quarter

Residents leaving Hong Kong withdrew HK$2.095 billion ($270 million) from Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) pension accounts in the second quarter, up 111.6% from the same period in 2020. A sweeping security law imposed on Hong Kong in June 2020, aimed at anything Beijing regards as subversion, secession or terrorism, prompted residents of the city to move tens of billions of dollars to other countries including Canada, where thousands hope to forge a new future. read more A total of 8,000 claims...