June 2023
14Jun

UK. Govt extends National Insurance contribution deadline

The government has extended the deadline for paying voluntary National Insurance contributions by nearly two years, with taxpayers to be given until 5 April 2025 to boost their state pension entitlement. According to the government announcement, the extension aims to ensure that people have more time to properly consider whether paying voluntary contributions is right for them and ensure that no-one misses out on the possibility of boosting their state pension entitlements. The original deadline was extended to 31 July 2023...

June 14, 2023
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09Jun

Sustainability of pension schemes. Building a smooth automatic balance mechanism with an application to the US social security

By Frédéric Gannon, Florence Legros & Vincent Touzé We build a “smooth” automatic balancing mecanism (S-ABM) which would result from an optimal tradeoff between increasing the receipts and reducing the expenditures of a pension scheme. The S-ABM obtains from minimizing a sum of discounted quadratic loss function under the constraint of an intertemporal budget balance. One advantage of this model of “optimal” adjustment is its ability to analyse various configurations in terms of ABMs by controlling the adjustment pace. Notably,...

June 9, 2023
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07Jun

US. DOL took thumb ‘off the scale’ in finalizing new ESG rule, official says

Despite mischaracterizations and political backlash, the Department of Labor's new rule permitting retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social and governance factors when selecting investments and exercising shareholder rights does not tip the balance in favor of ESG, a key department official said Tuesday. "The final rule that we put out, notwithstanding what you may have heard, doesn't require consideration of ESG, it doesn't mandate that every investment have an ESG score attached to it, it doesn't mandate that if...

June 7, 2023
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07Jun

The Irish pension landscape for employers in 2023

Pension provision for staff is a valuable recruitment and retention tool for employers. Pensions can be a core part of a benefits and reward package offered. When there are labour or skills shortage affecting your hiring capabilities, this can be a meaningful part of your offering to ensure you are competing with top employers for talent. IORP II The IORP II Directive “sets common standards by ensuring the soundness of occupational pensions and better protecting pension scheme members and their beneficiaries.” Employers...

June 7, 2023
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05Jun

How the FCA’s new Consumer Duty impacts UK pension scheme buy-outs

Pension scheme trustees considering a buy-out are likely to welcome this, because the Duty will require the insurer to use its influence to deliver good outcomes for the members in relation to the policies. This will further strengthen the regulatory regime that applies to insurers and the protection it offers to bought out members. How the Consumer Duty will apply to pension schemes In July 2022, the FCA published its rules for a new Consumer Duty that will apply to FCA-regulated...

June 5, 2023
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May 2023
25May

Changing pensions regulations will not boost UK business investment Expert

Often in politics, a bad idea turns up when its time has finally come. The current contender in the UK is the belief that a few tweaks to pension rules will flood dynamic companies with much-needed funds, save the troubled stock market, improve returns for future pensioners and resolve the longstanding weakness in business investment. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said in his March Budget that his plans, to be announced in the autumn, will “unlock productive investment from defined contribution pension...

May 25, 2023
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24May

US. House passes bill requiring Treasury report on economic risks from China

The House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill that would require the Treasury Department, along with several federal regulators, to issue a report on risks posed to the U.S. by China's financial sector. In a 400-5 vote, the House passed the China Financial Threat Mitigation Act of 2023 Monday, introduced by Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Roger Williams, R-Texas. The bill directs the Treasury secretary — in consultation with the chairmen of the Federal Reserve, SEC, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the...

May 24, 2023
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16May

UK Pensions Regulator refreshes its guidance for trustees on being prepared for sponsor distress

The UK Pensions Regulator has updated and re-issued its guidance for trustees of defined benefit pension schemes, urging them to be prepared for signs of sponsor distress. If trustees are ready to take protective action at an early stage, more options will potentially be available to them, which should maximise their ability to protect members’ interests. The guidance was first issued during the Covid-19 pandemic in November 2020, and we previously reported on it here. The revised version appropriately moves...

May 16, 2023
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10May

Kenya. ICEA Life Assurance gets regulatory approval to manage NSSF pensions

ICEA Lion Life Assurance has become the latest private pension provider to obtain the approval of the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) to manage NSSF contributions by employees earning more than Sh18,000, also known as Tier II contributions. The underwriter who is part of the ICEA Lion Group has made the disclosure as it lures employers who opt out of the NSSF as a custodian of the higher-tier pension contributions. “Our team is dedicated to assisting employers with the opt-out procedure. With...

May 10, 2023
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05May

Swedish watchdog to scrutinize Alecta over U.S. bank investments

Sweden's financial watchdog will investigate Stockholm-based pension fund Alecta's risk management in the wake of its investments in collapsed U.S. banks. Finansinspektionen, the Financial Supervisory Authority of Sweden, will in particular investigate how Alecta measures risks in various investments, the watchdog said in a notice Thursday. The starting point for its investigation is the 1.12 trillion Swedish kronor ($108.4 billion) pension fund's investments in Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank and Signature Bank. The pension fund had a total 12 billion...

May 5, 2023
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