January 2023

Investment Risk Minimization and Optimization of Future Pension Plans

By Peter Vodička Thesis is a collection of three papers with several contributions to the optimisation of future pension plans for the long-term savers while minimising their investment risk. Since pillar aim is to improve the transparency of the pension funding, we develop investment strategies for individual savers which are easy to understand whilst at the same time performing optimally, or near optimally. Furthermore, all investment prospects are communicated in real terms. Principal investment strategy introduced in the thesis is called...

Ghana. Private pension funds control 71% of industry’s assets

Private pension funds hace maintained their strong growth over the years, reaching a record hig of GH28Billion in 2021 from the previus year´s GH28Billion. the increse represents 27 èrcent, with private pension funds - the mandatory 2nd Tier and voluntary 3rd Tier schemes - now controlling a 71 percent share of the industry´s total assets under managment (AUM) in the year under reviw, latest data from the National Pension Regulatory (NPRA) show. A Breakdown of private schemes shows that 2nd Tier...

Secure Act 2.0: A Missed Opportunity to Enhance Retirement Equity

By Albert Feuer SECURE Act 2.0, which was enacted on December 29, 2022, represents a missed opportunity to enhance retirement equity. The Act’s 92 provisions provide small new tax incentives to those American workers struggling to save for a comfortable retirement, larger tax incentives to those with few retirement concerns, more complex retirement tax rules, and weaken compliance rules that are primarily applicable to those with few retirement concerns. Source @Papers

Life expectancy in the U.S. has declined. What does that mean for your retirement?

Last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its most recent U.S. life expectancy estimates, and sadly, the report found that, once again, Americans’ average number of years remaining have fallen. As reported recently, life expectancy at birth is now 76.4 years (as of 2021), down from 77 a year earlier. This is a drop of approximately 7 months over a one-year period, which takes life expectancy back almost a quarter-century to 1996. This decline is certainly...

Occupational pensions statistics

By European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority EIOPA provides statistical data on how institutions for occupational retirement provision in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA) perform. The statistics contain aggregated country level information about the basic information, balance sheet, asset exposures, expenses, member data, contributions, benefits, and transfers. Data refers to the latest information available for each reference date. Our statistics are based on quantitative pensions data reports. Occupational pension institutions in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA)...

December 2022

UAE’s Pension Authority raises awareness on incorrect contribution practices

Private sector entities that do not pay monthly contributions or provide incorrect data for their Emirati employees risk incurring additional penalties and, under certain conditions, imprisonment,' as per the federal pension and social security law. At the end of its campaign to educate insured Emiratis and the entities in which they are employed about an insured’s rights and duties in accordance to the NAFIS programme, the General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) stated that charging an insured person with...

South Korea’s Corporate Retirement Pension Funds Jump 15.5% in 2021: Statistics Korea

South Korea's corporate retirement pension funds under management expanded 15.5% to 295 trillion won as of end-December 2021 from a year earlier, Yonhap News reported Monday, citing data compiled by Statistics Korea. A total of 425,000 firms in the country adopted the retirement pension funds scheme for their employees as of last year, marking a growth of 4% from 2020, according to the report. The corporate retirement pension program covered nearly 6.8 million workers in 2021, which accounted for 53.3%...

US. New Spending Bill Makes It Easier for Americans Saving for Retirement

After years of negotiation, lawmakers introduced a retirement security package as part of a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill early Tuesday. The package, referred to as SECURE 2.0, includes several provisions, such as expanding automatic enrollment in 401(k) and 403(b) plans, enhancing the tax credit for small businesses launching a retirement plan and allowing employers to make matching contributions to a 401(k) plan, 403(b) plan or SIMPLE IRA based on qualified student loan payments. The package combines three bipartisan bills from...

Ghana labour unions call for strike over local debt swap

Ghana's main unions on Monday called for a nationwide strike from next week in protest against the inclusion of workers' pensions in a local debt swap programme as part of the terms for an IMF credit. A top cocoa and gold producer, Ghana has oil and gas reserves but its debt payments are high and its revenues weak. Like the rest of Africa, it has been hit by economic fallout from the global pandemic and the Ukraine war. Two weeks ago, the...

Departing Hong Kong residents took $378 million from pensions in Q3

Residents leaving Hong Kong for good withdrew a total of HK$2.177 billion (S$378 million) from their pension accounts in the third quarter of 2022, down 16.4 per cent from a year earlier, government data showed on Thursday. A total of 8,600 claims to withdraw from the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) were made in the July-September quarter, compared with the 9,300 claims taking out HK$2.604 billion during the same period in 2021. The figure also compared with 8,600 claims in the April-June...