January 2022
04Jan

Financial health of largest U.S. corporate pension plans surges to highest level since financial crisis

The financial health of the nation’s largest corporate defined benefit pension plans improved significantly in 2021 as strong investment returns and rising interest rates help to drive their aggregate funded status to its best level since before the 2008 financial crisis, according to an analysis by Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ: WLTW), a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company. Read also US. Pandemic’s impact on retirement savings varies by geography, gender and age Willis Towers Watson examined pension plan data for...

January 4, 2022
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December 2021
22Dec

UK. Workplace pensions bounce back after Covid-19 effects

On the go: Workplace pension contributions grew by more than 15 per cent in the second quarter of 2021, when compared with the previous year, due to contribution levels recovering after the pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics. The ONS’s latest quarterly survey on funded occupational pension schemes in the UK, published on Tuesday, showed that contributions in private sector employee and employer defined contribution schemes grew by 19 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively, in Q2...

December 22, 2021
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03Dec

U.S. corporate plans’ funded status slips in November

Funding ratios for U.S. corporate pension plans decreased in November, according to reports from Legal & General Investment Management America, Insight Investment and Northern Trust Asset Management. Read also US. SEC guidance opens the door for more ESG proxy proposal LGIMA's monthly pension solutions monitor showed that the funding ratio of a typical corporate pension plan decreased by roughly 1.6 percentage points to 90.1% in November, primarily because of poor equity performance and lower Treasury yields. Read also US. Most Kentucky pension...

December 3, 2021
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02Dec

Bosnia miners end 9-day protest after clinching wage, pension deal

About 7,000 miners will return to work at Bosnia's seven coal mines after securing a deal with the government and state-owned Elektroprivreda BiH (EPBiH) power utility on wages and pensions, officials said on Wednesday, bringing to an end a 9-day protest. The miners halted work last week in support of colleagues who were protesting in the capital Sarajevo against what they said were violations of work and pay regulations. EPBiH General Manager Admir Andelija said at the time that power production...

December 2, 2021
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01Dec

US. Corporate pension buyouts hit $15.8 billion in Q3 LIMRA survey

Pension buy-in transactions, in which an insurer reimburses the company for benefit payments the plan will make to its retirees and beneficiaries, are very common in the U.K., but rare in the U.S. Mark Paracer, assistant research director at the Secure Retirement Institute, said in a news release Tuesday that the combined year-to-date volume for buyout and buy-in sales of $25 billion sets the stage for the U.S. pension risk transfer market to exceed the record $36 billion set in...

December 1, 2021
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November 2021
11Nov

UK. Huge increase in pension schemes with over £1bn

There has been a 90% increase in the number of UK pension schemes with over £1bn in assets since 2013, research by Barnett Waddingham has uncovered. In a report published today, the researchers also reveal how 55% of pensions schemes studied were closed to accrual this year, up from just 15% eight years ago. Expansion of pension scheme assets has meant more significant challenges for trustees and employers at a time when there’s about to be a step change in regulatory...

November 11, 2021
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October 2021
20Oct

Avoiding a pensions disaster at UK universities

After two years of pandemic-induced disruption, students at UK universities were hoping this term that things were slowly returning to normal. But life may soon get much worse again and this time it has nothing to do with Covid-19. Ballots on strike action by lecturers have been called at UK universities. The issue is pensions; more precisely, whether the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) — the largest pension scheme in the UK with 470,000 members and £85bn in assets — has sufficient...

October 20, 2021
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September 2021
27Sep

Ghana. Cocoa farmers pension scheme takes off October 2021

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has announced that the much-anticipated cocoa farmers pension scheme will start in October 2021 for cocoa farmers in Ghana. He said that the scheme, once fully operational, would help farmers enjoy a decent retirement benefit after years of active farming, adding, “This adds to the several fantastic strides this government hopes to leave behind.” Mr Boahen Aidoo made this announcement at the signing ceremony of a $1.5 billion...

September 27, 2021
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17Sep

Driving Value for Money in defined contribution pensions

By The Pensions Regulator & Financial Conduct Authority This discussion paper was published jointly by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator. A focus on Value for Money (VFM) is a key part of ensuring defined contribution (DC) pensions maximise the income savers have at retirement. In this discussion paper, we invite views on developing a holistic framework and related metrics to assess VFM in all FCA and TPR regulated DC pension schemes (workplace and non-workplace). At this stage, we...

September 17, 2021
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03Sep

U.S. corporate pension funding rises in August – 2 reports

Funding ratios for U.S. corporate pension plans increased in August, according to reports from Legal & General Investment Management America and Wilshire. LGIMA found in its monthly pension solutions monitor that the funding ratio of a typical corporate pension plan increased by 1.6 percentage points to 90.8% in August primarily due to strong performance from global equities. LGIMA estimated U.S. Treasury rates rose 3 basis points while credit spreads widened by 2 basis points, resulting in the average discount rate rising...

September 3, 2021
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