Advocacy Talking Points 19 January 2021
The Impact of Covid-19 on Pensions
Webinar
Industry experts discuss the changes to the 2020 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pensions Index and the diverse efforts by governments across the world to support their communities’ health and finances.
Webinar Presentation
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Financial security in retirement can never be taken for granted. In a CFA Institute survey of over 400 defined-benefit pension plans conducted prior to the pandemic, 48% of respondents said it is likely or very likely (greater than a 60% chance) that their fund will not be able to pay 100% of benefits in the next 10 years.
Pension systems around the world faced additional pressures in 2020. Governments, pension regulators, plan fiduciaries, and millions of workers responded in a variety of ways to COVID-19. The unusual events of 2020 had several immediate effects but will also have a long term impact on future retirement income. This effect will be caused by lower pension contributions or early withdrawals, low interest rates driving down expected returns across asset classes, high government debt potentially reducing future government support, and members switching to defensive portfolios at the wrong time, crystallizing losses.
In this webinar, we discuss the changes to the 2020 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pensions Index. We also discuss the diverse responses by governments across the world to support their communities’ health and finances. Lastly, our panel of experts debates how individuals, industry, and pension systems will need to adapt in a post-pandemic world.
Speakers:
- Janet Li, Partner, Asia Wealth Business Leader, Mercer
- David Knox, PhD., Senior Partner, Mercer
- David Dong, Deputy CEO, China Universal Asset Management (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd
- Renuka Sane, PhD., Associate Professor, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, India
Moderator:
- Sivananth Ramachandran, CFA, Director, Capital Markets Policy, India, CFA Institute
Watch the Webinar
Duration: 1 hr 7 min.
Recorded: 19 January 2021.
Presenters
Sivananth "Siva" Ramachandran, CFA, is the Director of Capital Markets Policy, India at CFA Institute. In his role, he is responsible for advocating policy positions on issues that impact Indian capital markets, including corporate governance, ESG, and financial reporting, to name a few. Siva was part of a SEBI working group that reviewed the related party transaction regulations. He is frequently quoted in media. Siva has nearly 13 years of experience in financial services. Prior to joining the CFA Institute, he spent five years at Morningstar, and led their global index product development team. He also served as a spokesperson for sustainability at Morningstar India. Prior to his time at Morningstar, Siva spent nearly five years at MSCI where he co-authored research papers on small cap investing, portfolio construction, and economic exposure. Siva has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. He also holds the chartered financial analyst (CFA) and professional risk management (PRM) designations, and the fundamentals of sustainability accounting (FSA) credential provided by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).
Janet has more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry. Prior to joining BEA Union Investment, she was the Wealth Business Leader for Asia and a Partner at Mercer where she led the Retirement and Investment business of the firm in the region. Throughout her investment consulting career, she worked closely with institutional clients and platforms on their portfolios and across diverse types of asset classes ranging from public to private markets investments.
Janet is currently serving as the Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Hong Kong Retirement Schemes Association. In addition, she is also a Member of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Advisory Committee and Member of the Human Capital Committee of the Financial Services Development Council.
She is an Adjunct Associate Professor of The Faculty of Business and Economics at The University of Hong Kong.
David is a Senior Partner at Mercer and Senior Actuary for Australia. He is the National Leader for Research and the actuary to the Tasmanian and Western Australian public sector superannuation plans. Before joining Mercer in 2005, David was at PricewaterhouseCoopers and prior to that was the Foundation Professor of Actuarial Studies at The University of Melbourne. In his two decades in academia, he acted as a consultant to a range of financial organisations, in both the private and public sectors, specialising in the superannuation and retirement incomes area. David has a Bachelor of Arts and Doctorate (which focused on pensions) from Macquarie University and is a Fellow of the Actuaries Institute.
Mr. David Dong joined China Universal Asset Management (Hong Kong) Company Limited in 2010 and currently acts as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, who is in charge of the overall business development, product development, and oversight of sales and marketing activities. David has more than 15 years of experience in finance and investment markets, and he is also responsible for overall business development of international business of parent company, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. Prior to joining CUAM HK, David acted as the Senior Manager in the International Business Department of China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd since 2008.
David holds a Master’s degree, and he is the International Business Committee member of Asset Management Association of China (AMAC), and Pacific Policy Council Member of ICI Global.
Renuka specialities include household finance, credit and bankruptcy, and pensions, as well as consumer protection in finance and the regulatory state. She is currently a member of the Pension Advisory Committee of India’s Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority. Also, she sits on the personal insolvency working group of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India. Previously, Renuka worked with the individual insolvency research team at the Bankruptcy Legislative Reforms Commission. Renuka has a PhD in economics from the University of New South Wales and holds a master’s degree in economics from Mumbai University.