Risk management is the process of identifying, analysing, accepting, mitigating or transferring uncertainty in investment decisions. Fund managers apply risk management by analysing and attempting to quantify the potential loss of an investment and then acting accordingly.

Institutions are being transformed thanks to the integration of new technologies. This vision represents a corporate change with a social impact, reducing costs, simplifying processes and procedures, and raising awareness of the importance and benefits of this transformation.

Article 12 of Law No. 5508 on the Promotion, Protection of Maternity and Support for Breastfeeding establishes that maternity allowance should be paid to employed women by the social security scheme of Paraguay’s Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión Social – IPS). This amount is equivalent to 100 per cent of her salary at the time of delivery, and is paid for the prescribed months of rest. This used to be given to women in a single payment.

Quick Pension Guide (Snabbkoll på din pension) is a digital service on the Swedish Pensions Agency’s website that was launched in June 2022 to support individuals in the accumulation phase (people aged 26–54) to quickly and easily learn more about the old-age pension and make informed choices based on their situation.

85 percent of individuals who have completed the guide state that they will act based on the information they received, either implement a change or search for more information.

The issue of population growth and social security planning is one of the biggest challenges facing governments today, and is a key part of a good social security system that instils confidence in its members.

The Retirement and Pension Fund for Employees of Banks and Related Institutions (Caja de Jubilaciones y Pensiones de Empleados de Bancos y Afines) (Bank Fund, hereinafter) is in constant communication with its members. It therefore continuously updates its databases, in order to have a better understanding of members’ current realities, experiences and needs.

Digital transformation is happening in institutions through the integration of new technologies. This vision represents an institutional and social change, optimizing available resources, reducing costs, shortening processes and procedures, and raising awareness of the importance and benefits of this transformation.

In Malaysia, private sector employers are mandatorily required to make retirement contributions on behalf of employees to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). However, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have failed to comply with the law since they do not have a proper payroll management system in place.

The EPF has developed a free basic payroll solution that is available to all private sector employers:

Good practice in health – service quality.

As health-care systems have evolved to become more complex and due to the resultant increase in patients coming to harm in health care settings, patient safety has emerged as a health-care discipline.

Jobseekers are supposed to an submit Activity Report every month to show their job search activity. The report also helps the Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen ‒ PES) of Sweden, to provide jobseeker with the support he/she needs. Historically, many jobseekers have found it difficult to submit their Activity Report and otherwise comprehend what they were expected to do.

The Actuarial Advisory Office (Asesoría Actuarial) of the Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión Social – IPS) carried out an actuarial valuation of the Common Retirement and Pension Fund (Fondo Común de Jubilaciones y Pensiones). The valuation looks to comply with international best practices and observe the guidelines and standards of the International Standards of Actuarial Practice 2 (ISAP 2), and the ISSA-ILO Guidelines on Actuarial Work for Social Security, with technical support from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

To enhance support, the Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen ‒ PES) of Sweden has developed a model to automatically estimate and purpose a search strategy on top of its traditional working streams, taking in consideration the job seeker’s educational background and vocational history to match them with the demands on the labour market. The model estimates a plan regarding the profession the jobseeker should primarily focus on, and the number of jobs one should preferably apply for optimizing his/her efforts for resolving his/her unemployment.

Back Protection and Rehabilitation Programme (BPRP) is a dynamic and proactive solution to control and manage the commonest musculoskeletal disorders at the workplace, which is backache or low back pain. The main objective is to reduce the incidence and impact of back pain, prevent worsening of disability, reduce the disability period, and finally retain skilled workers affected in the workforce.

Like most of the world’s countries, Paraguay has adopted lockdown measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These steps taken by the government have impacted the productive sector, leading to mass suspensions of employment contracts for persons insured with the Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión Social – IPS) of Paraguay.

ELYA, abbreviation for “EPF Loves You Always”, was invented to reduce drop calls at Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Contact Centre of Malaysia and to empower customers with self-service facilities in a conversational approach. This is the first bilingual Virtual Assistant (VA) for social security organisation powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and supported by Live Chat. The inspiration to create ELYA’s outgoing persona is a culmination of EPF staff’s personalities and passion to help customers from different walks of life.

Expanding its services from assisting up to 1,200 jobseekers with employment injuries or illnesses annually in 2008, Social Security Organization (SOCSO) now delivers employment services to all categories of job seekers in Malaysia through the establishment of the MYFutureJobs National Employment Services, a framework similar to the Public Employment Services defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Paraguay’s Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión de Social – IPS) used to make sick leave payments at its administrative offices, which had associated administrative costs and meant beneficiaries had to visit the IPS service counter in person.

The Medical Board of the Social Security Organization (SOCSO) is a group of medical professionals that is responsible for performing impairment evaluation and determining the social security benefits due to employment injury or invalidity filed by Malaysian employees (insured persons) with SOCSO.

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, the whole country’s government mechanism is mobilised to manage the impact of the pandemic. The Social Security Organization (SOCSO) of Malaysia plays its role in the social security and provides economic stimulus for the country.

In 2019, Arbetsförmedlingen, the Swedish Public Employment Service (PES), undertook a substantial change in the way the control of jobseekers is carried out. Until then, the employment officers on the local level were responsible for both the service delivery, and for controlling that jobseekers meet the conditions in the unemployment insurance regulations. With the implemented changes, the control is now carried out by specialized staff in a centralized unit.

Since 1996, the Members Investment Scheme (MIS) has provided an option for members of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) of Malaysia to divert retirement savings to investments outside EPF for the purpose of maximising their retirement savings. These investments are managed by third-party Fund Management Institutions (FMIs), and promoted through their agents.

The Withdrawal Planner (Uttagsplaneraren) is a digital tool to help plan and withdraw one’s pensions. A typical user is aged 55 to 65, with an average of eight pension pots from five different sources. They can create and compare plans with different withdrawal periods and options, to decide about the future withdrawal of their entire pension, not just the state pension.

Based on their action plan, jobseekers must each month submit an activity report on measures they have taken to get a job, for example, if they have completed the mandatory activities and what jobs they have applied for. Most jobseekers comply with the stipulated demands, leaving no reason for the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen – OSS) to take any further action. Reviewing all these reports manually would therefore not be cost effective.

The use of robots in rehabilitation has widened the treatment options and improved the outcomes for patients with neurological disabilities. These devices promote functional recovery of the upper or lower limb movements through neuroplasticity and motor relearning processes. The cybernic treatment combines interactions between man, machine and information to improve, enhance and support the wearer’s limb mobility function. It regenerates the patient’s own brain-neuro-physical functions through the signal interactions between human and robot.

Malaysia, which prioritises the welfare of its people, provides various benefits and assistance to the citizens through government and non-governmental organisations. Despite this, poverty still exists and the high cost of living is a burden to the B40 group – the bottom 40 per cent of households with monthly income of 3,900 Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) and below.

The Commuting Safety Support Program (CSSP) was introduced in 2017 by the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) in collaboration with the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS). The program aims to facilitate employers’ implementation of commuting safety at the workplace through practical intervention. It aims to reduce motorcyclist accidents and was initiated through partnership with various stakeholders. Improvements in commuting safety positively impact on working conditions, productivity, economic and social development.

The overall goal of Sweden’s Federation of Unemployment Insurance Funds (Sveriges a-kassor) is to provide services that help administer unemployment insurance so efficiently such that no organization other than the current 27 unemployment funds can do it better.

Integrated System for Prosthetics and Orthotics, Inventory and Rehabilitation (INSPIRE) was introduced to manage the rehabilitation facilities of the Social Security Organization (SOCSO) of Malaysia through a web-based platform to ensure continuity and provision of rehabilitation benefits to SOCSO insured persons.

The Guide Efterlevandeguiden.se, is a website with aggregated information from the authorities to help those who have recently lost someone close. Launched in September 2016, the service is a unique initiative and collaboration between three Swedish government agencies, namely, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, the Swedish Pensions Agency and the Swedish Tax Agency.

As part of the social security establishment, it is a statutory requirement that every qualified employee should be registered by a registered and qualified employer. Apparently, there are still employers who fail to register their employees. The failure by employers to register their employees will result in the non-coverage of the employees, unfairly depriving them of social security coverage and benefits in the event that they were to become unfit to work or worse, if they were to suffer permanent disability or invalidity.

Industrial and commuting accidents in Malaysia continue to be a burden to the working population, most especially road accidents related to their occupations. Prompt treatment of the injuries is of the essence to ensure better clinical prognosis and outcome, reduction of disability and continued employability of the contributors. However, in several cases the provision of the surgical implants during acute treatment maybe prolonged due to financial hurdles or processing delays when claiming from the social security organization.

There is a growing white collar workforce and more and more employees are falling ill due to unhealthy workloads. An increasingly borderless work life creates difficulties for individuals to set limits on the working day. What one person experiences as an advantage, can feel stressful for another.

The issue of inadequate savings faced by the members of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) coupled with a low level of financial literacy demonstrate the urgent need to enhance the knowledge and skills in financial and retirement planning among Malaysians.

The Standard for Pension Projections aims to help the Swedish pension insurance industry serve its clients better.

The Standard provides a tool for consistent projections across the industry. Two guiding principles have driven the Standard:

The general public in Sweden has little interest in the social security system and many times incorrect expectations of how much they will receive in benefits. But at the same time most people are positive about having a general social welfare system. The Swedish Social Insurance Agency’s communication strategy was created to remind the general public of just that and to connect the Agency with those positive feelings by showing how the agency embodies that idea of social security in a modern way.

We have developed three basic life situations for our customers: Save for retirement, Plan your retirement and Live with your pension. To think and plan for these situations helps us to provide better targeted information to our customers, develop the services they need and want, and also provides a natural starting point for our long-term planning. Our communication is also tailored to target groups within the framework of the respective life situations.

Malaysia is experiencing an increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The Social Security Organization (SOCSO) had noted an increase in the number of claims made for invalidity and survivors' pensions due to NCDs, and the impact may continue to rise even further.

In 2012, the Swedish government allotted resources for early intervention for a restricted amount of new job-seekers. The requirement was that the Public Employment Service (PES) used a profiling instrument which could objectively select individuals with a high risk of long-term unemployment. Not everyone could come into question and resources should be targeted to those with the highest risk, independent of geographical location. The independence of geographical location entails an important difficulty in allocation of interventions at the local level.

In early 2000 the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) adopted a quick-fix to headhunt talent to achieve and sustain breakthrough performance in the short run. Now a long-term strategy is employed to ensure that internal talent is identified and nurtured to provide a steady flow of talent to fill key positions and provide critical skills. The organization wants to ensure 20 per cent of the executive workforce, selected on merit-based criteria, undertakes a structured strategic leadership programme to create a pipeline of talent to fill the organization's needs.

Within the framework of this project, considerable efforts have been made to develop and implement an automatic support tool in the decision-making activities. The long-term goal is that the Assessment Support Tool (AST) is to be integrated into the daily activities and that it is to be used as consistently, fairly and efficiently as possible in the assignment of this government agency.

A fundamental principle of the network's financial education programme is that the information provided must be independent. The network runs several horizontal projects directed at clearly defined target groups.

Historically, internal audit reports were communicated to the Board and executive management but did not always reach the rest of the organization. In 2011 the government decided to dissolve the Board and extend the role of the Director General who then initiated a change in the internal audit reporting process. The reporting format was enhanced from being very detailed to focusing on high risk findings and related recommendations.

The Message Manual is a brochure, in both printed and digital format, where the majority, and the most important, of our messages to pensioners and pension savers are expressed in a simple way. The manual is a support for all who have direct customer contact, so we can ensure that our messages are common and uniform. The preparation process of the Message Manual is also an easy and practical way to agree internally on what messages we wish to communicate externally.

The programme is for a maximum of three months. The financial compensation for participants is activity support, like in ordinary labour market programmes.

The offer of participation in WLI is made at a handover meeting where the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (SIA) and the PES together inform the person about the aim and content of the programme.

The strategy comprises four CA prevention programmes to face the increase in commuting accidents, namely:

This leads to increased demands for skills, both on pensions and financial savings. Many lack the knowledge today. They could thus end up with a lower pension than they would have with more knowledge.

The good practice is the training that the Swedish Pensions Agency (Pensionsmyndigheten) provides to partners. The Swedish Pensions Agency offers a free two-day training course for union representatives, who in their turn inform about pensions at their respective workplace.

This is a cost effective way to disseminate information to many workplaces around the country.

This cooperation, made possible through the ability to act together, is completely unique and provided unexpectedly good results. The main focus was to prevent inactivity and avoid negative consequences of long-term unemployment and the attendant increased costs for the unemployment benefit system. The Government also eased the resource allocation for the Public Employment Service (PES) in this situation.

One of the key areas under IT governance is in the area of IT project and portfolio management processes which will be used to help JTM to align IT initiatives closely with business objectives. In order to achieve this, JTM needs a structured approach in IT investment planning, prioritization, selection, project tracking and reporting. JTM also manages request demands from business users and maintenance of the existing systems and applications via one of the functionality in the IT Portfolio Management tool.

The Employees Provident Fund's (EPF) vision is to be the best Social Security organization in the world and the best government agency in Malaysia. To help realize this vision, the IT Department has to ensure that the IT Operations are ever ready to support the Business Needs and Requirements. As a major contributor to EPF's operational and management efficiency and effectiveness, the IT Department has adopted best practice IT Service Management based on ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) V3. The ITIL Implementation Project in EPF was kicked-off in June 2008.

In more than 50 per cent of our international cases we have electronic information exchange in place with the country of residence, meaning the insured person does not need to fill in a life certificate at all.

This practice provides great customer value as well as great rationalization for the insurance companies. Moreover, it provides safer, faster, and more efficient management of life certificate data.

NSJ provides an amount equivalent to the payroll tax, including retirement pension fees, which is credited to the employer´s tax account for people who qualify for NSJ.

People who have been unemployed, participated in labour market programmes or have had support from sickness benefit for a full-time duration or for more than one year are eligible for a NSJ.

SOCSO believes that financial compensation alone is not "social security" and will not guarantee social well-being. However a bio-psychosocial rehabilitation programme together with proper coordination in compensation and prevention through systematic case management will be able to promote job retention, re-employment and social reintegration for workers who suffer from employment injuries and invalidity.

A structured risk management framework aids its decision making process by taking account of uncertainty and the effect on achieving objectives and assessing the need for any actions. Structured risk management enables EPF to practice good corporate governance and strengthen its competitive strategic and operational efficiency.

The service receives information from about 25 pension companies (pillar II and III) and the Swedish Pensions Agency (Pensionsmyndigheten) (pillar I), and covers about 98 per cent of the existing pension capital. The service provides a forecast of the amount of old age pension from different pension ages and different types of simulations; how different salary levels and different rates of return on the pension capital affect the pension level.

The extensive mailing of the Orange Envelope, the annual statement regarding the public pension system, to all pension savers, creates during one month a season for pension information.

The Orange Envelope is very well known. It shows the importance of working longer and it is a great platform to make pension savers, either via digital channels or through the Pension Agency's customer service, to get help to understand the full pension and to explain which behaviours lead to a higher or lower pension.

The Orange Report - The Annual Report of the Swedish Pension System - is a means of spreading and presenting information and knowledge about how the Swedish public pension system works and performs.

The Orange Report combines common accounting principles and a specially developed method to be able to present the financial development of a public (and essentially pay-as-you-go financed) pension scheme.

The target groups for this system level information are: government, politicians, policy analysts, media and researchers.

The premium pension system has one of the world's most powerful discount models, giving pension savers the opportunity to save in UCITS-funds with substantially lower fund fees. This gives our pension savers an average 15-20% higher premium pension.

In 2015, the fund companies took out approximately 6.2 billion SEK in fees from our funds' shares. 4.2 billion SEK (67%) was paid back to the Swedish Pensions Agency and will be distributed back to the pension savers.

The Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen (PES)) first makes an assessment to establish whether the jobseeker has a reduced working capacity and also to examine whether the impairment can be compensated fully or partially with other support. A work analysis is carried out based on knowledge of the conditions and functional impairment of the jobseeker and the information which is obtained at the workplace. A WS may be provided for a maximum of four years. The support may be extended under certain circumstances.