FirstFT: Larry Fink warns of looming ‘retirement crisis’

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Good morning.

The world faces a looming “retirement crisis” that requires a rethink of pensions and working patterns as medical breakthroughs boost longevity, BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink has warned in his annual letter to chief executives and investors.

Fink cited UN projections that one in six people globally would be older than 65 by 2050, up from one in 11 in 2019, as he called for increasing global use of capital markets to help workers save for old age.

The rise of defined contribution pension plans combined with the growing strain on the social security government retirement programme had left the US particularly unprepared for a huge increase in the retiree population, he wrote.

Fink described the mismatch between what Americans were saving and what they would need for retirement as “a problem so big and urgent that government and corporate leaders [need to] stop business as usual [and] step out of their silos and sit around the same table to find a solution”. Read more of the annual letter.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The Conference Board reports March consumer confidence figures and we also get monthly durable goods orders, which cover long-lasting products such as washing machines and aircraft, while the Case-Shiller index’s 20-city composite is updated. Brazil’s statistics agency publishes mid-March inflation data.

• US Supreme Court: America’s highest court will hear oral arguments on the abortion pill, which could limit access to the medication less than two years after Roe vs Wade was overturned.

• Israel-US ties: Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant meets his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in Washington. Yesterday, the Jewish state cancelled a separate high-level visit to the US capital after the UN Security Council passed its first resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.

Five more top stories

1. Exclusive: The US faces a Liz Truss-style market shock if the government ignores the country’s ballooning federal debt, the head of Congress’s independent fiscal watchdog has warned. Phillip Swagel, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said the mounting US fiscal burden was on an “unprecedented” trajectory, risking a crisis of the kind that sparked a run on the pound and the collapse of Truss’s government in the UK in 2022. Read the FT’s full interview with Swagel.

2. A rescue operation is under way in the US port of Baltimore after a container ship travelling to the Sri Lankan port of Colombo hit a road bridge which collapsed into the Patapsco river. Rescue officials told local media that at least seven people had been pulled into the water, with a fire department spokesperson calling the incident a “mass-casualty event”. Here’s what we currently know about the collision.

3. Russia has started supplying oil directly to North Korea in defiance of UN sanctions, further cementing ties between the authoritarian regimes. At least five North Korean tankers travelled this month to collect oil products from Vostochny port in east Russia, according to satellite images shared with the FT by the Royal United Services Institute, a UK think-tank. Read the full story.

• Moscow attack: Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed “radical Islamists” for Friday’s deadly concert hall attack while also attempting to pin responsibility on Ukraine.

• FT View: Using the horrific attack as a pretext to intensify Russia’s war in Ukraine would be an outrage, writes the FT’s editorial board.

4. Adam Neumann has submitted a conditional bid of about $600mn for WeWork, the bankrupt co-working company he led until 2019, according to three people briefed on the matter. Flow, Neumann’s new property company confirmed that “a coalition of half a dozen financing partners . . . submitted a potential bid” two weeks ago. Here are more details about the co-founder’s plans.

5. Two law professors claim Sullivan & Cromwell put its own interests before that of FTX’s stakeholders, reviving criticism over the law firm’s role in the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange’s rise, collapse and unwinding. The firm’s “apparent conflicts of interest permeated FTX’s bankruptcy filing and every aspect of the case”, wrote Jonathan Lipson of Temple University and David Skeel of the University of Pennsylvania. Here’s more from their paper published this month.

The Big Read

On the surface, Donald Trump’s re-election campaign often seems chaotic, marked by his angry rhetoric about revenge and never-ending legal woes. But behind the scenes, there is a streak of ruthlessness and determination in the former president’s new bid for the White House. Narrowly ahead in the polls, Trump now has the backing of a small group of seasoned campaign operatives and former officials eager to apply his ideas. Who is in this tightly knit inner circle preparing for his second term?

We’re also reading . . . 

Map of the day

US claims to a swath of mineral-rich seabed are being challenged by China and Russia because Washington has failed to ratify a treaty that governs access to resources in international waters. The disagreement surfaced at last week’s meeting of the International Seabed Authority in Kingston, Jamaica, according to three people who attended the event.

Take a break from the news

Marc Jacobs is a true fashion maverick, constantly changing tack in unexpected ways, but his motivation remains the same: to be an entertainer. Alexander Fury interviews the designer, who is celebrating his brand’s 40th anniversary this year.

Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm