July 2024
22Jul

South Africa. Key two-pot bill signed into law

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the Pension Funds Amendment Bill that is key for the implementation of the two-pot retirement system, which takes effect on September 1. The signature into law of the bill gives legal certainty to the retirement industry, which has been implementing the necessary changes. The new system will provide members of retirement funds with the ability to access part of their retirement savings without having to resign or cash out their pension funds. The new...

July 22, 2024
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18Jul

PensionBee to enter US market

PensionBee Group plc, a prominent online pension provider, has announced the launch of its operations in the United States, the world’s largest Defined Contribution pension market. The move will see them enter the market which accounts for approximately 80% of the global total and boasts $22.5tn in assets. The company’s wholly-owned US subsidiary, PensionBee Inc., is now registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment adviser. In May this year, PensionBee entered into a strategic agreement with State Street...

July 18, 2024
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16Jul

Breakthrough pension reform in Saudi Arabia – A model for the MENA region

Saudi Arabia took a big leap forward in transforming its pension system with the recent announcement of comprehensive reforms, designed with support from the World Bank, aimed at enhancing income protection during old-age, but also promoting gender equality. Aging populations, caused by increasing life expectancy and falling fertility rates, combined with the changing nature of work and the erosion of informal and traditional family support systems, have created considerable challenges for pension systems worldwide. Many are facing fiscal sustainability pressures and...

July 16, 2024
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12Jul

2024 Pension adequacy report: Current and future income adequacy in old age in the EU

By European Union  The report’s main focus is on old-age pension systems. It looks primarily at statutory pensions, incorporating the adequacy contribution of supplementary pensions where relevant. The report also looks at the role of survivors’ pensions in providing adequate old-age income for surviving spouses. In the context of its analysis of income inequalities and redistribution mechanisms, the report also considers minimum income provision for older people and how taxation affects income distribution in old age. Given the importance of services...

July 12, 2024
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05Jul

Retirement Benefit Distributions for California Educators

By Robert L. Clark, Denis Pelletier & Beth Ritter Distribution choices by individuals retiring from CalSTRS are examined for participants that retired between 2016 and 2023. Women are much more likely to select a member-only annuity while a larger proportion of men select a J&S annuity that provide survivor benefits. Being married is a dominant factor in the selection of J&S annuities. Greater final annual salary, older ages at retirement, and more years of service are associated with a greater probability of choosing...

July 5, 2024
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04Jul

UK. Election 2024 manifestos: Parties’ pledges on disability, PIP, pensions and workers’ benefits

The party vows to reform disability benefits so they are “better targeted” and improve PIP assessments to make it more specific to someone’s need – following a consultation. The party wants to stop the number of claims from rising and argues people with mental health issues, for example, may not need as much financial support as someone with a physical disability. Labour Labour would work with councils to help match up disabled people, or those with health conditions, with jobs as...

July 4, 2024
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04Jul

South Africa. Pension fund members hope to pay off debt from two-pot retirement withdrawals

Pension fund members hope to pay off some debts from their two-pot retirement system withdrawals as financial pressures force 50% of consumers to cash in their retirement funds in an environment where even high-income consumers are failing to pay their home loans. And if they use money from Peter to pay Paul, they will also have to pay the tax man. According to Sanlam Benchmark research that will be revealed next week, Sanlam found in 2022 that just 31% of...

July 4, 2024
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01Jul

UK. L&G launches DC private markets offer and target date fund range

Legal & General (L&G) has launched a private markets fund and a target date fund range in a bid to offer defined contribution (DC) members the opportunity to access diversified private markets exposure. The L&G Private Markets Access Fund – which will be available for DC schemes to invest in directly and via a newly launched range of target date funds, the L&G Lifetime Advantage Funds – will offer a single point of access to a diversified portfolio of private...

July 1, 2024
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June 2024
19Jun

UK. The General Election And Pensions Policy

Parliament was dissolved on May 30, 2024, with the General Election being held on July 4, 2024. As a result, much of the planned pensions legislation has been lost and it remains to be seen if the various bills will be reprised by the new Government. The Finance (No.2) Act 2024 survived the election cull and was published on May 24, 2024. Sections of the Act which are relevant to pensions make amendments to the Finance Act 2004 in respect...

June 19, 2024
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May 2024
31May

Intergenerational risk sharing in pay-as-you-go pension schemes

By Helene Morsomme, Jennifer Alonso García & Pierre Devolder Population ageing undermines traditional social security pension systems that combine pay-as-you-go (PAYG) and defined benefits (DB). Indeed, demographic risk, if guaranteed benefits remain unaltered, will be borne entirely by workers through increases in the contribution rate. To avoid a substantial increase of the contributions and in order to maintain simultaneously the financial sustainability and the social adequacy of the public pension system, risk sharing and automatic balancing mechanisms need to be...

May 31, 2024
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