November 2020

17Nov

Canada public pension managers questioned on U.S. fossil fuel investments

Public-sector pension plan managers in Canada are being asked to explain their investments in an energy company building a new fossil fuel facility on the West Coast. The US$310-million liquefied natural gas facility, called Tacoma LNG, is being built at the Port of Tacoma by Puget Sound Energy (PSE), a utility in the state of Washington, and is expected to be completed next year. Proponents of the facility, like the utility, the port and a union working on the...

November 17, 2020
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12Nov

Pension funds and corporates could save the world

Big institutional investors such as pension and sovereign wealth funds, as well as corporate clean energy buyers must come on board to drive the investment levels needed to stave off catastrophic global heating, according to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The Global Landscape of Renewable Energy Finance 2020 study published yesterday states institutional investors sitting on an estimated $87 trillion of global assets supplied only 2% of investment for renewables in 2017 and 2018. Although...

November 12, 2020
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October 2020

21Oct

Pandemic puts pressure on global pensions

The combination of low interest rates, a pandemic-ravaged global economy and reduced investment returns are straining pension systems, according to an annual survey. Covid-19 has also exacerbated gender inequality in pensions, the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index says. Women already retired with less money than men, and the pandemic’s effect on the hospitality and food services sectors, where women are overrepresented, will add to the gap. Canada’s pension systems held at ninth overall in the 2020 study with...

October 21, 2020
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15Oct

OECD tells UK: Ditch pensions triple lock

The British government is being urged to abandon its pensions “triple lock” or face growing pressure on the public purse. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a report published on Wednesday that the practice of indexing annual pension increases to the maximum of earnings growth, interest rates or 2.5% would put growing pressure on the UK at a time when public debt is already above £2tn ($2.6tn). Read also Half of UK pension funds seek...

October 15, 2020
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September 2020

30Sep

One in five retirees is under 65

More than one in every five pensioners in Greece is under the age of 64, according to the figures of the Helios pensions database for September. The Labor Ministry’s register has 2,486,053 retirees, of whom 559,079 or 22.48% are aged up to 64, thanks to the favorable retirement status granted to them by several social security funds and early retirement opportunities. The figures also showed that the average monthly main pension in Greece this month amounted to 726.70 euros,...

September 30, 2020
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10Sep

South Africa. There’s a pensions train smash coming: Magnus Heystek

South Africa is facing a ‘pensions train smash’, says Magnus Heystek, director of Brenthurst Wealth Management, as a number of factors including the poor JSE, a weak economy and new regulations are set to collide. Heystek said in a webinar on Wednesday (9 September), that this collision course is the result of a number of problems in the wider pensions industry which have been building for years. He added that ordinary South Africans are starting to see the problems...

September 10, 2020
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August 2020

26Aug

After Private Pensions, Peru’s Congress Turns to Public Funds for COVID-19 Relief

Peru's Congress approved a law on Tuesday that allows citizens to partially draw down their contributions to the state pension fund, a few months after doing the same with the private system and despite fierce opposition from the government. Read also What The Pandemic Has Revealed About Retirement Plans With 106 votes in favor, three against and 15 abstentions, the fractured, opposition-dominated chamber gave the go-ahead for Social Security Office (ONP) affiliates to withdraw up to $4,300 ($1,200) to mitigate...

August 26, 2020
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25Aug

What The Pandemic Has Revealed About Retirement Plans

This year has been a real eye-opener for many pre-retirees and retirees. Over the years, most people heard warnings and advice from retirement advisors about various aspects of their plans. The warnings were based on a combination of data and anecdotes and often didn’t hit home or inspire urgency. But the Covid-19 pandemic compressed many events into a short period and affected the entire country. Suddenly, the concerns weren’t theoretical or something to worry about years from now. A...

August 25, 2020
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07Aug

Eskom Pact Won’t Include Pledge to Use State Worker Pensions

A pact between South Africa’s government, labor unions and business to cut the debt of the stricken national power utility won’t include a pledge to use the pensions of state workers as had been initially proposed. An agreement due to be signed at the next meeting of the President’s Working Council has no firm undertaking to use the funds of the 2.1 trillion rand ($120 billion) Public Investment Corp., which manages state workers’ retirement money, or private pensions, said...

August 7, 2020
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07Aug

Sorry, But The World’s Best Pension Funds Are Canadian: McGill University & CEM Benchmarking

Canada’s pension funds are beating peers globally in investment performance and are stronger at hedging against liability risks, according to research from McGill University and CEM Benchmarking. Their success is partly explained by the fact they are more likely to manage their assets in-house, McGill researchers Sebastien Betermier and Quentin Spehner, along with CEM’s Alexander Beath and Chris Flynn, wrote in a July paper. The authors’ findings are based on a study of pensions, endowments, and sovereign wealth...

August 7, 2020
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