September 2017

22Sep

Using Behavioral Science to Increase Retirement Savings

By Andrew Fertig, Jaclyn Lefkowitz & Alissa Fishbane We all deserve a dignified retirement, yet for many of us saving enough remains an obscure, unrealized goal. In an ideal world, planning for our retirement would begin with our first job, continue throughout our working years, and end in sufficient savings for a comfortable future. This pathway may be possible for the few among us with employer-provided pensions, where someone else handles all the planning and saving. Yet trends in the retirement...

September 22, 2017
Articles, Investing, Savings, Slider-Left, System Sustainability, , , , , ,
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20Sep

Borrowing on the Wrong Credit Card: Evidence from Mexico

By Alejandro Ponce (World Justice Project), Enrique Seira (Banco de México; ITAM) & Guillermo Zamarripa (FUNDEF, Mexico) We study how consumers allocate debt across credit cards they already hold using new data on credit card activity for a representative sample of consumers with two homogeneous cards in Mexico. We find that relative prices are a very weak predictor of the allocation of debt, purchases, and payments. On average, consumers pay 31 % above their minimum financing cost. Evidence on cross-card...

September 20, 2017
Articles, Management, Savings
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19Sep

Mexico readies bill to regulate fast-growing fintech industry

Mexico would regulate its fast-growing financial technology sector, including firms that use crypto-currencies like bitcoin, to protect consumers and spur competition, under a proposed bill seen by Reuters. The proposed legislation, which Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said this month would be unveiled in the Senate before Sept. 20, seeks to ensure financial stability and defend against money laundering and financing of extremists. The new measures will allow Mexico to join a small list of countries, including the United States...

September 19, 2017
News, Slider
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August 2017

31Aug

Second Mexico exchange aims to open at start of 2018 -bourse chief

Mexico's new, second stock exchange BIVA aims to be operating by the start of next year, as it bids to capture part of the existing market in Latin America's No. 2 economy and entice more companies to issue stock, the new exchange's president said on Monday. The Institutional Stock Exchange, known by its Spanish acronym BIVA, is set to formally receive its operating license at an event in Mexico City on Tuesday. It will compete with the Mexican Stock Exchange,...

August 31, 2017
Investing, News, Slider
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May 2017
05May

Mexican Antitrust Regulators Fines Pension Fund Managers

Mexico’s antitrust commission said Thursday it fined four pension fund management firms and 11 individuals a combined 1.1 billion pesos ($58 million) for making agreements to limit transfers of retirement accounts from one manager to another, restricting competition in the market. The Federal Competition Commission said that between November 2012 and June 2014, six bilateral agreements were signed among pension fund... Full Content: Wall Street Journal Remember to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter for more news or subscribe to our service...

May 5, 2017
News
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April 2017

05Apr

Some granularity on the Mexican pension industry

BlackRock has published a research report about pension funds in Mexico, a report produced as part of its broader research project looking into the state of the pension fund industry around the globe. It shows that the cause of alternatrive investments as a group is the cause of diversification for institutional investrors whose long-tailed liabilities impose upon them long temporal horizons. The Mexico report explains that the country’s Administradoras de Fondos Para el Retiro (AFOREs) operate in a regulatory environment...

April 5, 2017
News
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March 2017

22Mar

Mexico. Generous payments for Pemex pensioners

Some of the state oil company’s generous pensions have come to light through a freedom-of-information request, which found that 14 retired Pemex officials are receiving over 2 million pesos per year, greater than the annual salary of Mexico’s 128 Senators. The chosen few also receive over 6,000 pesos a month for expenses: gasoline, natural gas and food needs, along with year-end bonuses of close to 400,000 pesos. The top 14 retirees are paid between 238,000 to 362,000 pesos per month; in...

March 22, 2017
News
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February 2017

04Feb

Consumer Confusion: The Choice of Afore in Mexico

By Roberto Calderón-Colín, Enrique E. Dominguez & Moises J. Schwartz This paper was prepared for the World Bank 4th Annual Contractual Savings Conference (Washington DC, April 2008) co-organized by Gregorio Impavido. The article shows that account transfers among pension administrators in Mexico barely respond to price or return considerations and in general has not improved the consumer's pension balance. Instead of strengthening competition through lower fees and higher returns for the consumer, AFORE switching has so far undermined the system...

February 4, 2017
Articles, Labor Market, Regulation, Supervision, , ,
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