May 2019

30May

Kenya. Headcount reveals 40,000 ghost pensioners on payroll

Taxpayers have been paying billions of shillings to ghost pensioners after a headcount revealed that about 40,000 retired civil servants are dead and remain on the state payroll. The Pensions Department said Wednesday the two-month census that started in February did not capture about 50,000 pensioners, adding that it has confirmed that 40,000 of them are dead. The State had been paying relatives and dependants of dead people retirement benefits, helped by the growing use of ATM cards and...

May 30, 2019
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22May

Kenya. Retirements regulator strategic plan to boost assets

The pensions sector dropped in performance of various investments in the past year, a report has shown. The decrease in the assets during the half-year was attributed to the volatility in the stock market of which investment in quoted equities decreased by 19.83 per cent. The performance is, however, better than the year before, with marginal increases recorded. The top five fund managers during the period were Sanlam Investments East Africa, GenAfrica Asset Managers, Old Mutual Investment...

May 22, 2019
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10May

Financial Literacy and Saving for Retirement among Kenyan Households

By Teresa Schützeichel In this paper I examine financial literacy and saving for retirement in Kenya using the household survey of 2016 from FinAccess Kenya. I use probit regressions to determine the effect financial literacy has on individuals saving regularly as well as saving for retirement. My findings show that households with higher levels of financial literacy will tend to have a higher likelihood to save on a regular basis and subsequently save for retirement. I find that women, the...

May 10, 2019
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09May

Kenya. RBA targets Sh2.4trn via mobile phones

The Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) is counting on the informal sector to more than double pension savings to Sh2.4 trillion in the next five years, riding on mobile phone-based products. Chief executive Nzomo Mutuku on Tuesday said roping in the sector will help grow pension coverage from the current 20 percent to at least 30 percent by 2024. “Informal sector cannot use payroll system to remit savings, so we want to have mobile phone-based platforms where one can make contributions. And...

May 9, 2019
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April 2019

02Apr

U.S. pension fund managers pledge investments in Kenya’s infrastructure

More than 30 representatives of U.S. pension and assets management funds said on Monday they plan to channel capital towards development of critical infrastructure in Kenya. The senior executives who manage assets worth about 100 trillion Kenyan shillings (about 1 trillion U.S. dollars) said they are keen to invest in roads, water, sanitation and housing projects to help realize socio-economic transformation in Kenya. "By moving from traditional investments in stocks and bonds to new opportunities in Kenyan roads, power...

April 2, 2019
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01Apr

Kenyan, U.S. pension fund managers mull infrastructure investment

Kenyan and U.S. pension fund managers are in Nairobi evaluating the investment potential and opportunities in infrastructure in the East African nation. The World Bank said the three-day meeting, which kicked off on Monday, will see the Kenya Pension Fund Investment Consortium (KEPFIC) host 30 representatives of major U.S. pension and asset management funds to discuss investment opportunities with KEPFIC and its membership of 12 Kenyan fund managers, which currently manage 200 billion shillings (2 billion U.S. dollars) in...

April 1, 2019
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March 2019

05Mar

Kenya’s pension firm enters Uganda’s market

A new pension administrator, Enwealth Financial Services, has entered Uganda’s pension market upon securing an operation license from the regulator, Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA). The firm that joins nine other pension administrators in the country plans to offer pension retirement services, training and consultancy services. Founded in 2011 in Kenya, it currently manages pension assets worth over Shs2trillion for 120 clients in 12 countries within Africa. Nelson Kuria, the company’s chairman Board of Directors said at the...

March 5, 2019
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December 2018

05Dec

Kenya. Review of pensions law underway: Yatani

There is need to review the pensions law to ensure what retirees are paid reflects prevailing cost of living, Labour and Social Protection CS Ukur Yatani has said. "In pursuit of your association's objectives, working in close collaboration with your representatives, my ministry has developed a memorandum that will be submitted to the Cabinet soon for consideration and necessary action,” said Mr Yatani during the annual general meeting of Kenya Association of Retired Officers (KARO). The memorandum highlights, among others,...

December 5, 2018
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October 2018

15Oct

October Rout Will Test Pensions’ Wall Street Crash Protection

Large pension funds are snapping up Wall Street protection against a market crash, but it isn’t clear the products will help limit losses in the current pullback. Worried their portfolios were too risky, public-pension managers in California, Hawaii and Rhode Island have shifted more than $25 billion over two years or so into “crisis-risk offset” strategies, while others are in the process of such moves. Typically, these tactics aim to limit investor losses by buying long-term Treasury bonds, whose price...

October 15, 2018
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12Oct

Kenya. Banks, pension schemes top finance sector sources for real estate funding

Funding options in Real Estate (Sh billion) Banks’ credit to the real estate grew by 30.82 percent in 2017 compared with 18.33 percent growth rate for pension funds. Bank loans and retirees’ savings remained the largest finance sector source of funds for property developers and homebuyers in 2017, fresh statistics show, amid declining average house sales and rent prices. Commercial banks increased their investment in real estate by Sh87.56 billion last year, the highest allocation in a single year despite the September...

October 12, 2018
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