Blacktower Moving To Establish A Full DIFC Presence

2019 looks like it will be a testing time for investors, from trade wars to political uncertainty.

The European Union (EU) faces a number of challenges, including the ongoing Brexit saga, Germany just escaping recession (for the moment), further tensions with the Italian government, mass social unrest in France (with the potential for contagion) , the continued rise of populism, anti-immigration, anti-establishment and separatism movements and a weakening European economy (real GDP decelerated in 2018).

In the US, President Trump will do everything he can to keep the US economy strong because the success of his presidency relies on it. But at least the threat of a trade war with China has rescinded recently, with Trump delaying tariffs on Chinese goods as he feels substantial progress has been made in trade talks.

HSBC and The Local Government Pension Scheme are the latest Defined Benefit Pension Schemes to cause upset and worry to thousands of soon-to-be retirees.

Firstly, HSBC has come under fire for cutting the pension payouts of its former staff by up to £2,500 a year, affecting 50,000 members who joined the company between 1975 and 1996. This group had opted to pay less national insurance (NI) contributions whilst working by “contracting out” of the former state pension scheme. This meant that HSBC also paid less NI contributions. In exchange for paying a lower rate, the bank agreed to pay staff a guaranteed minimum pension when they came to retire. Payment records were however not properly maintained leading pensioners to be either overpaid or underpaid. Numerous firms, including HSBC, had used this arrangement and when the errors were discovered, some began to cut pension payouts to compensate for the overpayment.