Vestcor Investment Management Corp., an organization that manages the investment and administration of 11 public sector pension plans in New Brunswick, saw its investment decline 3.63 per cent in 2022.
During the year, Vestcor’s assets declined from about $21 billion to $20 billion, according to a press release, which credited the losses to the unusually high inflation and interest rates seen during the year.
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“Consumers continued to re-emerge from the pandemic during the year by rapidly trying to purchase a limited supply of goods and services, accelerating inflation concerns, while a combination of geopolitical events and central bank policy tightening actions all ended up negatively impacting financial markets,” said John A. Sinclair, president and chief executive officer of Vestor.
“Consequently, both equity and fixed income markets contributed significantly negative returns in 2022, which is not normal behaviour for financial markets.”
The Fredericton-based organization managed an unusually high transaction volume in 2022. As a result, its expense ratio grew by 0.01 per cent. According to the release, about 14 cents was paid to the organization on every $100 of assets entrusted to it, up from 13 cents in 2021.
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