European pension executives criticize quantitative easing
The European Central Bank is “distorting the market” for corporate debt, several pension executives said at an institutional investors' summit in Vienna this week.
Pensions
Pension buy-out volume up 21% in first quarter
At $1.084 billion, first quarter sales exceeded $1 billion for the first time since 2008 on 68 transactions, according to the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute.
Conning study assesses pension risk transfer (PRT) market
'Longevity risk may be a future issue for U.S. insurers since they currently do not incur a longevity charge under RBC,' Conning analyst Scott Hawkins told RIJ in an...
Group annuity risk transfer sales top $14 billion in 2015: LIMRA
In the fourth quarter, group annuity risk transfer sales were $5.8 billion or almost 19% lower than the previous year. Total assets of buy-out products increased 10%, to $90...
U.S. ranked 15th in pension excellence: Mercer
Both the Dutch and Danish systems were highlighted as “first class” in the seventh edition of the survey, while Sweden rose from sixth place to tie for fifth with...
‘De-Risky’ Business
Prudential has dominated the burgeoning market in jumbo pension buyouts. In the week following Prudential deals with JC Penney and Philips Electronics, RIJ spoke with Peggy McDonald (above), an...
Prudential buys a chunk of JCPenney pension
A portion of plan assets and liabilities of some 43,000 retirees and beneficiaries will move to Prudential without a cash contribution from JCPenney, according to a release. The deal...
BlackRock now manages $123 billion in Japanese savings
BlackRock is now Japan’s second-largest manager of DB assets after Sumitomo Mitsui Trust, according to the Japan Pensions Industry Database.
AXA’s UK pension fund uses longevity swap
Insurers will be subject to additional capital requirements when Solvency II kicks in later this year, requiring companies to shore up longevity within their books and their own pension...
Conversions of pensions to lump sum payments are banned
“If a participant has the ability to accelerate distributions at any time, then the actuarial cost associated with that acceleration right would result in smaller initial benefits," the IRS...
Britain’s Exchequer Mulls an End to Tax Deferred Savings
Retirement industry watchers in the U.S. should watch what's happening in the U.K. It's a living experiment in pension and tax reform, and it could offer important lessons about...
Public pensions aren’t falling behind in mortality expectations: CRR
A study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College shows that if public pension plans used the private sector mortality tables, they would have to increase their...
Pension buy-out sales more than double in 2014
In fourth quarter 2014 Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Motorola each transferred their group pension obligations to Prudential. The sales from these two deals represented more than half of the $8.5...
Towers Watson cuts out middleman in longevity risk transfer deals
Towers Watson’s service, Longevity Direct, will give pension funds access to a “ready made insurance cell,” which it said could write insurance and reinsurance contracts for longevity swap transactions.
A 23.8-year average retirement for female DB pensioners: SoA
Among males age 65, overall longevity rose 2.0 years from age 84.6 in 2000 to age 86.6 in 2014. For women age 65, overall longevity rose 2.4 years from...
To exit DB plan, Motorola buys group annuity from Prudential
Motorola Solutions Pension Plan intends to purchase a group annuity contract under which Prudential will pay and administer future benefits to the approximately 30,000 retirees who currently receive payments....
Flight from DC plans could roil Polish markets
Poland created a national mandatory defined contribution plan in 1999. Now the DC plan is optional, and many of the participants of the twelve DC funds are transferring their...
How does an unshackled pension fund invest? Ask Sweden’s SPK
“We’ve invested in a Goldman Sachs fund, which includes credit, high yield and emerging market debt. It’s a broad mandate that we believe has the ability to make money...
Detroit municipal retirees to take 4.5% pension cut
Retirees were also promised a “meaningful voice” in governance of the planned General Retirement System and of a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association (VEBA) that is to be established.
