Thursday, August 25, 2016

Pension matters: Retirement funds searching for better returns, 26 August 2016

Canada quietly treads radical path on pensions

Retirement funds are pushing beyond bonds and stocks in search of better returns

Among the assets controlled by Canadian pension funds are lottery operators, including Camelot; airports and toll roads including the Chicago Skyway; and vast property portfolios in New York and London © Getty Images; Bloomberg

YESTERDAY

by: Mary Childs and John Authers August 25, 2016

More on investment performance and Fund health, August 17, 2016

MORE ON INVESTMENT PERFORMANCE AND FUND HEALTH: Quote from CCISUA article posted below: "The previous Chair of the Fund assured staff that the Fund owed its healthy position in part to contributions made by participants being twice the current payments to retirees. In reality, as confirmed by the annual report, contributions are around the same level as payments. In time, as retirees exceed contributors, payments may exceed contributions. It is not a time to be complacent.

Looking ahead, it is clear that the Fund is facing a number of challenges in terms of leadership, governance, investment performance and its ability to pay retirees. In addition, further evidence has come to light regarding:

the UN’s reduced oversight of the Fund’s investments; and
the inability of the Fund’s auditors, more used to auditing governments and international organizations, to understand the unique challenges of a pension fund."

UN PENSION FUND NEWS: PAYMENT DELAYS CONTINUE AMID OUTSOURCING OF INVESTMENTS

EXCERPT:

READ ARTICLE HERE:

http://www.ccisua.org/2016/08/17/3732/

Pension Fund - Lack of common sense solutions cause delays in paying new retirees, August 14, 2016

Post on Former and Current UN Staff Facebook Page, by Michelle Rockcliffe, August 14, 2016

UNSPC (UN Staff Pension Committee)

Each biennium the United Nations pays the Pension Fund more than $20 million as the Fund is also the local secretariat for the UN Family (Secretariat, Funds and Programs). The CEO of the Fund is also the Secretary of the UN Staff Pension Committee responsible for a reported 86,000+ participants of the UN.
Published financial statements show that the Fund did not use its entire budget, with savings and had an average of 15 to 20 vacancies at any given time for many years. Both the ACABQ and BOA have highlighted the vacancies..

Yet we find ourselves at a juncture where thousands of former participants and their dependents or survivors have waited or are still waiting months or years or to receive benefits from the Fund, some even dying in the process of waiting.

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