February 2022
24Feb

UK. Auto-enrolment contribution rates need to rise to 12%, expert tells MPs

Auto-enrolment contributions need to rise to 12 per cent of earnings from the current 8 per cent, but this change should not be rushed through, MPs have been told. Speaking to the work and pensions committee this morning (February 23), Nigel Peaple, director of policy and advocacy at the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association, said auto-enrolment pensions “work really well”, while the voluntary saving side simply “hasn't come through”. “We believe the answer is to increase the automatic enrolment contributions,” said...

February 24, 2022
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24Feb

Kenya. Gov’t Urged To Make Retirement Scheme Mandatory

The Association of Pension Trustee and Administrators of Kenya (APTAK) wants the government to make pension schemes mandatory for all Kenyans to encourage the culture of saving. Speaking during the 1st annual International APTAK conference on Wednesday, President of the Association Hosea Kili said that many Kenyans face poverty upon retirement as they fall short of adequate savings. Kili said the social security fund should be made a mandatory requirement by urging Kenyans to save just as the government did with...

February 24, 2022
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23Feb

US. Retirement savings hit record rates despite great resignation

Despite the ups and downs of the labor market, one thing has held steady: employees’ commitment to funding their retirement accounts. Fidelity revealed record rates of retirement savings during 2021 in their latest trend report. Their data showed that the average 401(k) account balance was a record high of $130,700, and 40% of savers actually increased their account contributions last year. Read also United States: Shareholder Activism Or Divestment? The Massachusetts Pension Fund Chooses Activism “Investors continued to stay focused on the...

February 23, 2022
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15Feb

How will the EU’s SFDR sustainability rules work?

Europe’s action plan on sustainable finance will accelerate the mobilisation of green finance and reinforce EU leadership in this area by being an example for regulators across the world that are looking at a standardised approach. Despite the challenges, the goal is to build a greener, more sustainable future, but it cannot be done without the weight of financial market participants being fully committed. Today, country and corporate carbon reduction plans are still far short of the 1.5C target under the...

February 15, 2022
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15Feb

Zimbabwe’s FML faces investigation over asset separation law defiance

FML, the second-largest life assurance company in Zimbabwe by market share that also provides retirement, medical insurance, micro-insurance and other long-term financial security products, has also effectively defied the law on separation of insurance and pension businesses due to internal squabbles over the issue, which has led to some executives being removed. Zimbabwe’s leading financial services conglomerate, CBZ Holdings, is in the process of taking over FMHL to build a business behemoth in the local and regional markets. In a letter...

February 15, 2022
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10Feb

Mexico. Regulator calls on Afores to invest in local projects

The risk aversion of Mexico’s private pension fund administrators (Afores) is impeding growth, the head of pensions watchdog Consar told a webinar. “They have lots of resources, but local projects, which could be growth boosters, are lacking,” Iván Pliego Moreno said during a webinar organized by Nuevo León’s economists college. Read also US. New York’s public pension fund to divest from 21 companies over transition risk Pliego claimed Afores only choose 'AAA' investment projects as apparently 'BBB' ones “are not that attractive...

February 10, 2022
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07Feb

UK. Nearly half of savers in the dark when switching providers

More than four in 10 pension savers said they would not know what to look for when switching providers. More than two in five of the 2,104 savers surveyed by B&CE, the provider of The People’s Pension, would be likely to transfer their savings between providers if they could use a website that allowed them to see their pensions in one place. The findings are the latest in a flurry of research conducted into consumer behaviour surrounding the pensions dashboards, which...

February 7, 2022
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Pension Markets in Focus 2021
03Feb

Pension Markets in Focus 2021

By OECD Pension Markets in Focus provides detailed and comparable statistics on retirement savings around the world. This annual statistical report contributes to the effort of making data on retirement savings available, as the OECD Core Principles of Private Pension Regulation advocates for, to enable regulators and stakeholders to evaluate the design and operation of the pension system relative to its goals. These statistics can support policy discussions through international comparisons and peer learning, and are the basis of policy...

February 3, 2022
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01Feb

UK. DWP publishes draft dashboard regulations

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched a consultation on the draft pensions dashboards regulations. The consultation seeks views on the draft regulations which make provision for requirements to be met by pension dashboard services or the providers of these services, and by trustees or managers of relevant UK occupational pension schemes. Read also UK. Prudential reports itself to regulator over AVC failings The regulations - which the DWP said will apply to all registrable UK-based occupational pension schemes with...

February 1, 2022
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January 2022
28Jan

The Supreme Court Declines To Establish Pleading Standard For Defined Contribution Plan Excessive Fee Litigation

To the disappointment of many in the ERISA community, the Supreme Court issued a six-page opinion on January 24th that declined to opine on most of the issues that were before the Court in Hughes v. Northwestern University, No. 19-1401 (U.S. Jan. 24, 2022). In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Sotomayor, in which Justice Barrett took no part, the Court vacated and remanded the Seventh Circuit's decision upholding the dismissal of plaintiffs' claims of excessive recordkeeping and investment...

January 28, 2022
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