Muang Thai Life launches Muang Thai Flexi Retire Series, a highly flexible annuity product

The UK investment management sector has warned that repeated shifts in savings, investment and pensions policy are making it harder for people to prepare for retirement and are holding back investment into the domestic economy. Survey findings published by the Investment Association show that 38% of respondents believe changes to pensions policy in the UK have made future planning more difficult, while 34% said they are concerned that pension tax advantages could be reduced after the Autumn Budget. A further 33% said they would increase pension saving if tax rules were expected to remain broadly steady during their working lives. The IA is asking the Chancellor to set out a long-term and stable structure for pension taxation, and has called for no further rise in capital gains tax, the preservation of the tax-free ISA brand, the scrapping of stamp duty on shares, and steps to reinforce UK capital markets. IA CEO John Owen said Britain's ageing society is becoming increasingly expensive and that the State Pension alone can no longer be expected to provide the retirement income future generations will need, so robust and trusted private pensions must fill the gap.

Sara Lamsam, Chief Executive Officer of Muang Thai Life Assurance, has warned that the Thai economy is facing a hidden crisis that amounts to an elephant in the room, and risks sliding into a recession accompanied by inflation, or stagflation. He pointed out that insured members under the social security system under Sections 33, 39 and 40 total roughly 20 million people, but the group of workers under Section 33, who are the main force generating tax revenue for the government at a share as high as 20 to 50 percent, has continued to shrink. Meanwhile, the Thai economy is likely to expand by only just over 2 percent, and must rely on the tourism and export sectors, which are facing contraction. As for the stability of the pension system, the Mercer Global Pension Index places Thailand at roughly 10.8 to 11.8 percent, but data from the Bank of Thailand shows that as many as 65 percent of Thais have savings of less than 200,000 baht, and another 37 percent have no health insurance. Sara also pointed out that Thais spend as long as 10 years in poor health or in a state of dependency, while the retirement age stands at 55, earlier than in OECD countries. He therefore proposed pushing for structural mandatory savings measures, while adhering to ESG principles to narrow the inequality gap, build transparency, and raise financial and health literacy.