April 2019

29Apr

Inclusive Growth: The Global Challenges of Social Inequality and Financial Inclusion

By Howard Thomas, Yuwa Hedrick-Wong Inclusive growth ensures the benefits of a growing economy extend to all segments of society. Unleashing people’s economic potential starts with connecting them to the vital networks that power the modern economy. Implementing inclusive growth is a means of democratizing productivity and it is essential to reduce the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor in both developed and developing economies.   This book arose out of a research partnership between the Mastercard Center for...

April 29, 2019
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March 2019

15Mar

Impact of the digitalisation of financial services on supervisory practices in the private pension sector case study: Mexico

By the National Commission of the Retirement Savings System (CONSAR) I. Context of the Retirement Savings System (SAR) 1. Mexico introduced a new mandatory DC system of individual accounts in 1997 for private-sector workers (IMSS) and in 2007 for public-sector workers (ISSSTE)1 , both of which replaced old DB systems that had been in place since the 1940s and 1950s. 2. The new system has been relatively successful in creating a big pool of pension savings, as well as...

March 15, 2019
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February 2019

20Feb

Latam FX firms, Brazilian stocks mount recovery

A Latin American equities benchmark rose on Tuesday, bolstered by a rebound in Brazilian shares, while Latin American currencies broadly advanced against a soft dollar. Global currency traders wound back safe-haven dollar holdings on hopes that the fresh round of U.S.-China talks would aid strained trade ties between the world's two biggest economies, setting the stage for Latin American currencies to gain. Brazilian equities climbed back above the 97,000 mark....

February 20, 2019
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19Feb

Latam FX weak, Brazil’s real drops ahead of pension reform plans

Latin American currencies weakened against the U.S. dollar on Monday, with Brazil's real underperforming its peers ahead of anticipated pension reforms to be presented to congress later this week. The real slipped 0.8 percent, underperforming its peers, as President Jair Bolsonaro is expected to face opposition from congress, possibly delaying the passage of reforms seen as essential for shoring up the economy. "Pension reforms are considered crucial by the market with...

February 19, 2019
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07Feb

Private equity eyes long-term with Latin American infrastructure buys

Global institutional investors are circling a swathe of energy-related infrastructure assets in Latin America to increase their exposure in a region rife with more uncertainties but offering greater returns than those in more developed markets such as the US. Private investors or pension funds with cash burning holes in their pockets are increasingly participating in leveraged acquisitions of assets from Chile to Mexico. Mainly in the energy and infrastructure fields, such assets come with assigned long-term operating concessions and...

February 7, 2019
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January 2019

23Jan

Fintech: Latin America 2018: Growth and Consolidation

By Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); BID Invest; FinnovistaThis report is the second edition of the study “Fintech: Innovations You May Not Know were from Latin America and the Caribbean” (IDB, 2017), which offered a comprehensive view of the activity in and development of the Fintech industry in the region. The report describes the evolution and the progress achieved with respect to the measurement and analysis carried out in 2017, and examines new dimensions relevant to the ecosystem. The first...

January 23, 2019
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07Jan

Reversing Pension Privatization: Rebuilding Public Pension Systems in Eastern European and Latin American Countries (2000-18)

By Isabel Ortiz (United Nations - International Labour Organization (ILO); Initiative for Policy Dialogue), Fabio Duran (International Labour Organization (ILO)), Stefan Urban (United Nations - International Labour Organization (ILO)), Veronika Wodsak (United Nations - International Labour Organization (ILO)), Zhiming Yu (International Labour Organization) From 1981 to 2014, thirty countries privatized fully or partially their public mandatory pensions; as of 2018, eighteen countries have reversed the privatization. This report: (i) analyses the failure of mandatory private pensions to improve old-age income...

January 7, 2019
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December 2018

13Dec

Is Latin America Prepared for an Aging Population?

Latin America, while still comparatively young, is aging fast. Our research finds that population aging is challenging the fiscal sustainability of public pension and health care systems in the region. Policymakers will need to ensure adequate benefits for the rising share of older people—notably their social acceptability—by supporting formal employment and gradually reforming pension and healthcare systems. Demographic dividend Latin American countries are still younger than most advanced economies, but population aging is expected to accelerate. Today Latin American women have on...

December 13, 2018
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11Dec

Collecting and Transferring Pension Contributions

Collecting social security contributions is an important operational issue in all types of pension system. Many regimes are plagued by poor compliance and weak, inefficient administration. Some countries have tried to introduce an automatic incentive to contribute by moving systems closer to ‘actuarial fairness’, where pension benefits are more strictly related to individual contributions. Examples include the systems of individual accounts introduced in a range of countries in Latin America and Eastern Europe. But in these regimes, collecting and...

December 11, 2018
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August 2018

23Aug

International Labor Organization Urges Stronger Social Protections in Latin America

“When the economy is doing well, social protection systems work better, they develop, more people are covered. But when crises hit, spending cuts must be made and social protections are affected,” the ILO’s director for the Southern Cone, Fabio Bertranou, told reporters in Buenos Aires. Applying counter-cyclical fiscal policies to face economic fluctuations is one of the recommendations made in the ILO’s report “Present and future of social protection in Latin America and the Caribbean,” which was presented Wednesday by...

August 23, 2018
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