Legislation

BRAZIL - Brazil's lower house of parliament has approved a 7.7% increase in pension payments for some of the country's pensioners but serious obstacles remain before it can go into effect, including a possible veto from president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva....

CANADA - The Canadian government has proposed shelving certain investment restrictions currently imposed on private pension plans.

GREECE/GLOBAL - Greece has pledged to undertake a pensions overhaul as part of the structural reforms agreed with its partners in the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for a €110bn (US$144bn) rescue package.

AUSTRALIA - The Rudd government has committed to raising the employer contribution to superannuation funds from 9% of salary to 12% by 2020, a move that will mean an extra half a trillion dollars in superannuation assets under management by 2035.

ITALY - The speaker for Italian members of Parliament Gianfranco Fini has called for the creation of a pension safety net for corporate and multiemployer schemes to encourage membership into second pillar pensions.

US - The US Department of Labor (DOL) has announced plans to make extra information available to sponsors charged with evaluating and selecting target date retirement funds for their employees.

AUSTRALIA - The preliminary results of the Australian government sponsored Cooper review of the country's pension system has suggested superannuation funds should offer a new low-cost product called MySuper.

The Confederation for British Industry's claim that NEST will be deserted by workers fleeing the 2% charge is "absolute rubbish", Tom McPhail says.

Early entrants to NEST will be worse-off for over a decade unless the next government reforms the fees structure, the Confederation for British Industry warns.

The London Pension Fund Authority has unveiled detailed recommendations for future reform of the Local Government Pension Scheme.