November 2023

97% of US Corporate Pensions Can Achieve Full Funding Without a Significant Draw on Corporate Cash: Report

Russell Investments has released its 2023 Prudent Pension Funding Report, which reveals most (97%) corporate pension plans can achieve full funding without a significant draw on corporate cash, based on the respective firms’ latest disclosures as well as market and interest rate movement so far in 2023. This finding increased from 86% in last year’s report. "Despite a challenging economic environment in 2023, pension plans continue on a positive trend for full funding," said Michael Hall, Managing Director, Americas Institutional at Russell Investments....

IBM unveils details of retirement benefit account

International Business Machines has provided details to employees of the company's scrapping its 401(k) corporate match and replacing it with a cash balance component called a retirement benefit account, which is part of the IBM Personal Pension Plan, a defined benefit plan. The company confirmed earlier this month that the RBA would replace the 5% match for the 401(k) plan on Jan. 1, but didn't discuss details. The IBM Personal Pension Plan — closed to new participants since 2005 and frozen...

Pension funds have lost market share among 100 largest asset owners with $23T AUM

The 100 largest asset owners in the world saw their assets under management decline by 9% by the end of 2022 compared to the previous year, but still controlled more than $23 trillion in assets. But who are they? Five years ago, pension funds were in pole position, holding 60% of AUM among the top 100 owners at the time. But relative investment performance – with a slower correction in their collective assets – and new inflows means sovereign wealth funds have...

Canada. Alberta premier quiet on reason for abandoning promised in-person CPP exit consults

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith won’t say what happened to her government’s promise to hold face-to-face meetings with citizens in December on quitting the Canada Pension Plan. However, thousands of citizens got their say or tuned in to five recent telephone town hall consultations, she said during a house question period last week, noting nearly 100,000 people participated online. “We’re going to ask the chair of that committee, Jim Dinning, to give us his impressions of where we find ourselves.” New Democratic...

ESG and Public Pension Investing in 2023: A Year-To-Date Recap and Analysis

By Joshua Lichtenstein, Michael Littenberg & Reagan Haas Since 2021, Ropes & Gray has been actively tracking the various approaches states have taken on how or whether environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors should be applied to the investment decisions for public retirement systems. States have used legislative, administrative and enforcement mechanisms to address this area, which has been complemented by Congressional Republicans’ various attempts to shine a spotlight on ESG in recent months. Judging by the significant uptick in...

UK pension transfer boom continues as deals worth $11 bln struck

Two British insurers on Friday struck deals to take on a combined 8.8 billion pounds ($11 billion) of company pension liabilities, including the largest such UK deal so far, as pension schemes strive to limit their risks in volatile markets. Legal & General (LGEN.L) said it had agreed a so-called full buy-in to the Boots Pension Scheme worth 4.8 billion pounds, in what it said was the largest such deal in Britain by premium size. Pension insurance specialist Rothesay, meanwhile, said it...

U.K. retirement industry skeptical of government’s ‘pot for life’ proposal

Proposals by the government to alter retirement plans, including creating a "pot for life" concept and consulting on expanding the U.K. lifeboat fund's remit, were met with mixed reaction by the industry. Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt on Nov. 22 outlined his Autumn Statement — the government's latest tax and spending plans — with a proposal to allow participants to divert their contributions to a retirement plan of their choice. The government is launching a call for evidence for defined...

What do we know about China’s new financial watchdog?

China's Central Financial Commission (CFC), a new regulator with Premier Li Qiang as its head, held a meeting on Monday (Nov 20) and urged stronger supervision of risks in the financial sector as Beijing accelerates efforts to become a "major financial power". The setting up of the CFC underscores how the ruling Chinese Communist Party is tightening grip on the country's $61 trillion financial sector amid a destabilising property and local government debt crisis that has weighed on the economic...

German government to make pension funds join dashboard

The German government is preparing an ordinance to make pension funds exchange data with the pension dashboard – Digitale Rentenübersicht – by the end of next year, said Imke Petersen, head of the Zentralen Stelle für die Digitale Rentenübersicht (ZfDR), the unit within the first pillar manager Deutsche Rentenversicherung responsible for designing the platform. “On 31 December 2024 all pension funds will have not only to be registered with us, but also will be able to deliver [data],” Petersen said,...

IBM reopening pension plan turns industry heads

When it comes to dealing with an overfunded frozen pension plan, International Business Machines is putting into action what some of its peers are thinking about. The company recently confirmed that it will cancel its defined contribution plan company match and replace it with a component within its IBM Personal Pension Plan, a defined benefit plan, on Jan. 1. The 401(k) match is 5% of an employee’s salary. The IBM 401(k) Plus Plan had $53.2 billion in assets as of Dec....