• Collapse refocuses attention on aging spans

  One part of President Barack Obama's speech Thursday at the National Defense University hasn't gotten quite the attention it deserves: His ...

• Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Haynes Johnson dies

  Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Haynes Johnson has died in Bethesda, Md., of a heart attack, his wife said. He was 81. The former Washington Post journalist, who won acclaim for his coverage of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, died Friday at Suburban Hospital, his wife, District of Columbia Court of Appeals Judge Kathryn Oberly, said. Johnson began his career as a ...

• Riots spread outside Stockholm Sweden in sixth night of violence

  Rioting spread beyond the Swedish capital Stockholm, with youths torching vehicles and buildings on the sixth straight night of street violence, officials said. Specially trained police from Gothenburg and Malmo backed up local officers in Stockholm, the BBC reported Saturday. The disturbances began Sunday in Stockholm, but spread Friday to Orebro, where about 25 masked youths set fire to ...

• Former MP Jimmy Wray dies aged 78

  Glasgow Provan and Glasgow Baillieston for 18 years. He stepped down in 2005 after a spell of ill health. He is survived by his four children.Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont said: "I remember Jimmy fondly for his personal kindness and generosity but most of all for his love of the Labour party, which he served with distinction for a great many years. Even after he stepped down as an ...

• Kenya Stanchart Hopes to Resolve Sh14 Billion Pension Case

  Standard Chartered Bank is eagerly awaiting the determination of a court case in which its former employees sued it demanding up to Sh14.6 billion in unpaid pension. The bank's acting chairperson, Anne Mutahi told the annual general meeting it is counting on the new judiciary to expedite the matter that has lasted four years. She was responding to shareholders' concerns that the bank ...

• Older people urged to protect their eyes

  OLDER people should reduce their risk of blindness by eating healthy food, says Australian of the Year Ita Buttrose. Marking the start of Macular Degeneration Awareness Week, she said the health of older Australians must be a priority for both the community and government. Macular degeneration causes more than half of blindness and severe vision loss in Australia and primarily affects older ...

• Elderly woman bitten in hi-jacking bid

  An elderly woman was thrown to the ground and bitten during a botched hijacking in Belfast. Two thugs set upon the woman at around 7am as she was trying to get into her car on the Antrim Road, in the north of the city.The men threw her to the ground as they attempted to steal her car, investigators said.During the ordeal, she struggled with the attackers and was bitten on her thumb before they ...

• Beckham Left Out of PSG Squad as Retirement Starts

  (Reuters) - David Beckham was not included in Paris St Germain's squad for their final Ligue 1 game of the season at Lorient on Sunday as the former England captain headed into retirement. The 38-year-old midfielder had expected as much after his special send-off in Paris last weekend, saying he did not think he would play on the artificial pitch at the Brittany side because the surface ...

• The Best Vitamins and Minerals for Seniors

  Vitamins are nutrients that your body needs in small amounts to stay healthy. The amount you need depends on the vitamin. Because your body can only make limited amounts of vitamins for itself, the rest must come from ...

• What Detroit crisis Pension fund trustees hang out in Hawaii

  Detroit's emergency financial manager Kevyn Orr talks to members of the media outside the Detroit Newspapers building about the report he delivered to the State of Michigan about Detroit's finances, in Detroit, Michigan May 13, ...

• In The Most Severe Form Of Rheumatoid Arthritis Enzyme-Activating Antibodies Identified As A Marker

  rheumatoid arthritis , researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that in the most severe cases of the disease, the immune system makes a unique subset of antibodies that have a disease-promoting role. Reporting in the journal Science Translational Medicine online, the Johns Hopkins team describes how it found the novel antibodies to peptidylarginine deiminase 4, or PAD4, in blood samples from ...

• Chinas pension insurance covers 486 mln people

  China's urban and rural pension insurance program covered 486 million people as of the end of April, an official with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said Saturday.As many as 133 million elderly people are receiving monthly pensions, according to vice director of the ministry's rural pension department Liu Conglong.Over the past few years, the government has taken ...

• Experts predict next European pensions market trends

  Realistically, it is unlikely that Europe will see the evolution of a pan-European pensions market within the next ten years, say leading pension experts in a survey by Allianz Global Investors AG (AllianzGI). With the vast majority of European pension schemes shifting towards defined contribution (DC), cost calculability has been at the forefront of these amendments, said AllianzGI. ...

• ABP reviews pensions due to improved financial position

  The average growth in wages in the Government and Education sectors has caused the board of Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP to adjust pensions in 2010. The board has currently set indexation at 0.45 per cent, and has also adjusted the premium for old age and dependants’ pension, making the 2010 basis for premium calculation, which is salary after deduction of the franchise, amount to ...

• Europe’s retirement provisions insufficient to serve ageing populations

  Long-term savings provisions in Europe are flawed and are no longer able to meet the needs of ageing populations, finds the Janus Capital European Consumer Finance Survey. The study, which is the first of its kind into the European household balance sheet, shows that there are alarming deficits in levels of personal savings and retirement provision across Europe. While consumer hopes and ...

• OECD country pension funds on the road to recovery

  Despite the first half of 2009 showing marked improvements on returns for pension schemes globally compared to the huge losses in 2008, structural challenges remain, reports the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). While investment returns and funding ratios in defined benefit (DB) plans across the globe have improved, with an average recovery of USD 1.5trn, ...

• Romanian pension funds record positive 2009 returns

  Romanian pension funds posted positive returns for the first eight months of 2009, with average results of 11.31 per cent in mandatory pension funds, and 10.73 per cent for voluntary pension funds. The Romanian Pension Funds’ Association (APAPR) has published data showing that the 12 mandatory pension funds (the second pillar) on its radar have returned 15.53 per cent for the last ...

• CESR proposal of single risk measure ‘riskiest’ plan for building pension pots

  The Committee of European Securities Regulators’ (CESR) proposal to compress the riskiness of an investment fund into a single number will cause investors to make inappropriate investment choices and suffer losses as a result, warns EM Applications. The investment risk solutions provider is concerned that CESR has essentially misunderstood what really is the relevant risk measure ...

• Pension funds add €25bn to portfolios

  Positive revaluation of investments and favourable price movements of financial assets have added €25bn in value to Dutch pension funds’ investment portfolios in the second quarter of 2009, according to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). The investment portfolios now stand at €560bn in value. Shares recorded the highest price gains, at €16bn, and revaluations of bonds ...

• Retirement time bomb must be addressed worldwide

  paper, in which its experts draw upon practical experience consulting in retirement, healthcare and workforce managements. The conclusions drawn from the report are that defined benefit (DB) plans must address fund performance relative to liabilities. Timeframes for making decisions on this are, Mercer said, shrinking at the same time that strategic investment decisions have become more ...

• Irish government releases hotly-anticipated report recommending Pensions Board merger

  Merges between the Pensions Board and the Financial Regulator, and the Pensions Ombudsman and the Financial Services Ombudsman, have been recommended in the Irish government’s ...

• Finnish pension institution chooses Ortec solution for schemes

  The Local Government Pension Institution (LGPI) has signed an agreement with Ortec Finance to license its Asset Liability solution for pension plans. The pension institution for local governments in Finland will be able to formulate ALM strategies based on Ortec Finance’s scenario generation, asset and liability methodologies. ';Based on our extensive evaluation process, we ...

• EC chooses Hewitt to carry out pan-European pension fund study

  The European Commission has selected Hewitt Associates to conduct a feasibility study and advise on the establishment of a pan-European pension fund for researchers. The project will see Hewitt analysing the legal, technical and financial terms and requirements that must be considered when setting up pan-European arrangements for occupational pensions, which must also take EU ...

• International Retirement Scheme opens to UK Limited Companies

  A new tax-efficient Pension Trust that allows UK Limited Companies to provide retirement packages for their employees who have responsibilities outside the UK has been launched by s615(6) Limited. The International Retirement Benefit Scheme had previously only been open to direct clients, but for the first time will be offered as a new international pensions solution, and can stand ...

• Pension fund trustees champion Responsible Investment

  A report from UKSIF, the association which promotes Sustainable Investment and Finance, indicates that Responsible Investment is growing in popularity among UK corporate pension funds, a change led by ...

• Dutch pension funds need ‘firm measures’ to return to satisfactory funding levels

  Firm measures are necessary to bring scheme funding levels of Dutch pension funds up to the minimum required funding ratio of 105 per cent within five years, warns De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) in its Annual Report 2008. DNB, which is responsible for safeguarding financial stability in the Netherlands, said the funding level at the end of 2008, which stood at 95 per cent, can be brought up ...

• Danish pension fund faces ‘extremely unsatisfactory’ 2008 returns

  Bankpension, a pension fund for employees in the Danish financial sector, has reported ';extremely unsatisfactory'; 2008 results, with yields after tax standing at -19.7 per cent. In its annual report of results, Bankpension says that its gross yield including interest cover before tax for 2008 was -23.1 per cent, and reveals that the return on investment before currency and ...

• Ireland granted further pension protection

  Ireland’s defined benefit (DB) pension scheme members will gain further support with news that a new Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme (PIPS) is to be introduced in the Social and Welfare and Pensions Bill 2009. Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Hanafin T.D., announced that the new development will assist employees and former employees of companies where the employer ...

• OECDIOPS sets out pensions recovery recommendations

  Global pension assets have dropped by over 20 per cent, or $5.4trn, as a result of the financial crisis, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The organisation said the pressure on defined benefit (DB) funding levels has been increased by this drop, and has also dented many defined contribution (DC) systems worldwide. Representatives from the OECD and ...

• Irish private pensions ‘need support’ – IAPF

  Irish private pension provision will be destroyed if the Irish Government goes ahead with a reduction in tax relief, says the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF). Next month’s supplementary Budget will outline the proposals, and the IAPF has released a briefing paper in advance of this. It says that the reduction in relief on pension contributions to the standard rate would ...

• Dutch pension funds sell off securities

  EUR 26bn worth of securities were sold by Dutch pension funds in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to figures published by De Nederlandsche Bank. The funds carried out equities sales totalling almost €9bn, and disposed of €17bn worth of debt certificates such as bonds. Due to these sales, and to substantial price losses on the funds’ equity holdings, the value of ...

• No letup for Irish pension funds

  The credit crunch is not letting up on Irish pension funds, with February recording further losses of 5.7 per cent. In January, the average fund declined by 1.9 per cent, brining the return for 2009 so far to -7.5 per cent. The best performing manager during February was Standard Life Investments, with -5.0 per cent, and Irish Life Investment Managers delivered the worst performance of ...

• EU pensions prove to be robust despite downturn

  The European Union (EU) has admitted that pensions are not ‘immune’ from the financial crisis, but have shown themselves to be ‘robust’ in comparison to other financial institutions. The memo examines different pension schemes throughout the EU, and concludes that the long-term nature of pensions works to their advantage, giving some natural protection. However, ...

• More woe for Norwegian pension funds

  Norway's Government Pension Fund lost NOK 29.6bn (€2.95bn) in 2008, a massive drop attributed to the equities, according to figures from Folketrygdfondet. The asset manager is a state-owned company, and is solely responsible for the domestic pension fund which invests only in Nordic countries. It has confirmed in its annual report for 2008 that the scheme had dropped by NOK ...

• Iceland moves to abolish public officials’ pension privileges

  In a bid to level out the playing field between Iceland’s pensions for public officials and the general public, the Minister of Finance has moved to abolish the Act that provides these pension privileges to senior public servants and politicians. Act no. 141/2003 sees these officials, the President of Iceland, ministers, member of the Althingi and justices of the Supreme Court, ...

• Second Swedish Pension Fund takes huge tumble

  The Second Swedish National Pension Fund/AP2 has recorded a sharp fall in its market worth for 2008, amounting to a return of -24 per cent on net assets. The return value, SEK -55.1bn, meant the Fund’s capital assets totalled SEK 173.3bn at the end of December 2008, and had a net inflow of SEK 0.9bn. The capital asset value was SEK 54.2bn lower than in 2007. The drop has been ...

• Dutch tax authorities rule on landmark tax rebate for UK pension funds

  UK pension funds are set to enjoy a €100million rebate from the Dutch tax authorities following a tax ruling, says the UK branch of KPMG. The professional services provider’s test claimant, Strathclyde Pension Fund, has brought a successful legal challenge against the Dutch tax authority for a levied ‘withholding tax’ (WHT) on dividend payments to tax exempt bodies ...

• Global pension systems ‘tested on every level’

  show that assets fell from around US$25trn to US$20trn, with the global pensions balance sheet also shrinking by around 29 per cent in 2008. The financial consultant says this reflects the combined effects of poor performing assets and lower government bond yields. ';While the ramifications of this global economic crisis will be played out for many years to come, the striking ...

• Pensioners expected to live 11 months longer

  Life expectancy assumptions for funding valuations in UK pension schemes have been increased by eleven months, according to Mercer’s valuation survey. In a reaction to regulatory pressure, says the financial consultant, UK pension schemes have increased the median life span assumed for active and deferred members to 89 years and one month, from valuations a year ago of 88 years and ...

• Cases mount up for Irish Pensions Ombudsman

  The Irish Pensions Ombudsman saw a forty-three per cent rise in new cases compared to 2007, with the number of cases closed in 2008 up by ten per cent on last year. Around 450 cases are currently under investigation by the Dublin-based organisation, and its website has recorded over a third of a million hits annually. A statement regarding the provisional figures of the caseload in the ...

• Polish pension funds lose almost 20

  Polish open pension funds OFE have recorded a negative rate of return of 14 per cent for 2008. The market watchdog also said that, between January and December 2008, OFE lost zl.21.5bn. The loss is almost equal to the value of all funds transferred to OFE by the Social Insurance Office (ZUS), which stood at zl.20bn. Grzegorz Zubrzycki, PTE Allianz management board member, said: ...

• Norwegian pension fund reconsiders Israel investments

  Norway’s Ministry of Finance is referring to its Ethical Guidelines for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global following the situation in Gaza. According to the current Guidelines, the Council on Ethics shall recommend exclusion of companies from the fund’s investment universe where they see a considerable risk of contributing to serious or systematic human ...

• ‘Life-threatening’ pension risk must be addressed

  Survey. It seems that pension risk is no longer simply an inconvenience, and the survey questioned 171 pension plans in 12 countries. It found that pension risk is viewed primarily as a short-term financial risk, and changes to asset and benefit packages are seen to be increasingly driven by their impact on accounting numbers, rather than to a long-term view that is more traditionally ...

• Retirement investment concerns top employee concerns

  . The financial consultant questioned 1,028 human resource and finance professionals representing organisations from operations in more than 100 countries on their plans for 2009. The results show that firms are anticipating a tough 2009, with companies remaining selective in planning workforce, pay and benefit cuts. However, employees are concerned that a prolonged economic downturn ...

• Pension funds ‘unfit to meet credit crisis’

  The credit crisis has confirmed that pension funds can no longer rely on their consultants and asset managers to safely steer them through uncharted waters and will need to ';up their game';, claims a new study. UK research consultancy CREATE-Research, which jointly produced the study with IPE, based its findings on two separate postal surveys of 87 funds and 135 asset ...

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