
Korean government to consolidate public insurance

KOREA - Government plans to consolidate the imposition and collection of its four public insurance systems, including pensions, should see a rise in pension contributions by the self employed.
The temporarily-named Application and Collection Management Corporation is due to be set up in January 2007 and will bring together the pensions, health, employment and industrial disaster systems.
Each entity's business will remain separate as only the imposition and collection of contributions will be subject to the merger.
The government's aim was to reduce the number of people not covered by public insurance and to increase the number of self employed people paying pension contributions.
Some trade unions have criticised the strategy claiming the government is putting the cart before the horse. They said before considering the integration of contribution collection, the government should seek to reform the system itself.
"The government plan would only decrease social welfare benefits and the general public would suffer as a result," trade unions claimed.
The government had carried out a failed consolidation effort in 1998.
Latest stories
LDI indices launched to 'improve governance and transparency'
A suite of liability driven investment (LDI) indices has been launched by STOXX and RiskFirst to aid trustees and consultants select, monitor and challenge managers.
What is the purpose of a pension scheme?
British Airways and the trustees of one of its pension schemes are set to argue over the purpose of a pension scheme, leading to an impactful judgment for DB pensions. James Phillips explores the issue
BoE's Carney: May rate hike not a done deal
Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said there is still a lot of data to consider before the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) can decide when to next hike interest rates.
We have used 25% lump sum wisely, say four in five freedoms users
Savers are not squandering their tax-free lump sums under Freedom and Choice but are taking a more cautious approach to retirement, according to Prudential research.