August 2023
25Aug

Investment Option Switching Behaviour and Impact for Pension Fund Members Around the COVID Pandemic

By Adam Butt, Gaurav Khemba, William Lim, Geoff Warren & Shang Wu We study the switching of investment options by defined contribution pension fund members, using a unique dataset provided by a large Australian superannuation fund and spanning the market volatility associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that both the magnitude and direction of switching activity is primarily related to market conditions, but is moderated by member characteristics. Switching activity appears reactive to market movements, with a spike in...

August 25, 2023
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24Aug

$1.2m benefits from NSSF remain unclaimed in Kenya

Retirees failed to claim Ksh166.83 million ($1.2 million) in benefits due from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) by the end of June 2022, the Auditor-General has revealed, with the fund coming under the spotlight over failure to remit the funds to the unclaimed assets authority. The unclaimed benefits were part of accrued payments of Ksh3.6 billion ($24.9 million) at the end of the period, which the state-owned pension fund continually pays out to retirees at the end of their working...

August 24, 2023
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24Aug

U.S. PRT sales totaled $16.2 billion in Q2, more than doubling Q1 volume

U.S. pension risk transfer sales totaled $16.2 billion in the second quarter, more than doubling the volume from the previous quarter, a LIMRA survey found. The total volume in the second quarter also exceeded the volume during the same period last year by 31%, according to the survey. The increase in buyout volume from $12.3 billion in the second quarter of 2022 was primarily due to a single transaction. On May 1, Dallas-based AT&T Inc. announced the third-largest U.S. buyout transaction in history,...

August 24, 2023
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23Aug

UN pension fund flags climate risk on ALM and performance

In a nod to headwinds including climate change, evolving demographics, and the future economic outlook the $85.5 billion United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, UNJSPF, will use a slightly lower real rate of return on investments to inform its upcoming actuarial valuation. The 2023 ALM study will consider various scenarios for the future, including those incorporating climate risk. The 2023 ALM study will consider various scenarios for the future, including those incorporating climate risk. Under a baseline scenario based on moderate...

August 23, 2023
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21Aug

US. Pension Risk Transfer Deals Hit Record Level in First Half of 2023

In the first half of 2023 plan sponsors completed a record 289 pension-risk transfer transactions totaling $22.4 billion in premiums, according to a report from Aon, the largest PRT adviser. Aon predicted that the full year would see $40 billion in PRT deals, noting that the PRT market typically is busiest in a year’s second half. The report declared: “The pipeline continues to be robust, and we are hearing a lot of interest from plan sponsors. We expect a busy second half...

August 21, 2023
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21Aug

US. Pension funds in their best shape since just before the last two stock-market crashes

How do you lose more than $400 billion and still end up better off than you were before? Easy. You run a pension fund. America's top corporate pension funds have broken into surplus this year for the first time since 2007, just before the global financial crisis, despite disastrous 2022 investment losses on the stock and bond markets. The reason? Even while markets plunged, rocketing inflation has also led to soaring long-term interest rates. And thanks to accounting rules, pension funds can...

August 21, 2023
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18Aug

Public Employee Pensions and Municipal Insolvency

By Sean Myers  This paper studies how municipal governments jointly manage spending, credit market borrowing, and public employee pensions. I model governments as levered investors who must meet non-defaultable pension obligations and may value government spending more than citizens. I quantify the model using California city-level data, including a new record of fiscal emergencies, tax increases required to maintain essential services. After the financial crisis depleted pension funds, cities engaged in excessive risk-taking: the fiscal emergency option encouraged gambling for...

August 18, 2023
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18Aug

South Africa. Pay back the money: Eskom employees lose pension payouts, and cars after R2.6 million fraud backfires

The Nelspruit Specialised Commercial Crime Court has issued a restraining order against former Eskom employees and their relatives after they allegedly defrauded Eskom of close to R3 million. Mpumalanga spokesperson for the Hawks, Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi, said the order was gratified against Nwabisa Ngxola, Cinderella Moropane, Edward Moropane, and Jeffrey Moropane. It is alleged that during the period between March 2012 and May 2013, Ngxola and Cinderella Moropane were employed at Eskom. The former was responsible for capturing payments and...

August 18, 2023
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18Aug

US. NYC Comptroller Lander & Pension Fund Trustees Warn Entertainment Giants that They Risk Losing Investor Confidence over Prolonged Strikes

The trustees of the five New York City pension funds, led by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, sent letters to the Chief Executive Officers of Disney, Paramount, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast, urging them to address the ongoing strikes by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) today. The ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have paralyzed major television and film productions in New York City and across the...

August 18, 2023
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July 2023
23Jul

Providing security, building sustainable futures

By Pension Protection Fund  Our purpose is to protect the future of millions of people throughout the UK who belong to defined benefit (DB) pension schemes - 9.6 million as at 31 march 2022. When these schemes fail we’re ready to help. We do this by paying our members, charging a levy and investing for the long term. Read book “here”

July 23, 2023
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