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Coverage of the 2025 DC Plan Summit

Benefits Canada celebrated the Defined Contribution Plan Summit’s 25th anniversary by looking at how the world has changed over the last quarter century, the subsequent…

Conference Coverage

2025 DC Plan Summit: President Trump’s pro-business agenda could boost M&A and public offerings

Donald Trump is poised to be the “most transformational” U.S. president due to his corporate tax rate approach and a unique deregulation plan across financial…

Conference Coverage

2025 DC Plan Summit: How financial advice has evolved in 25 years of retirement savings

Over the past 25 years, the pension industry has seen many significant shifts, from defined benefit to defined contribution, from accumulation to decumulation and from…

Conference Coverage

2025 DC Plan Summit: Understanding the modern mindset for DC plan member engagement

With climate change affecting the planet and artificial intelligence disrupting the concept of work, a profound generational shift is underway in how young people are…

Conference Coverage

2025 DC Plan Summit: Revolutionizing retirement income solutions for retirees

As defined contribution plans mature, Canada is seeing the first wave of retirees that only have DC plans and plan sponsors are facing the challenges…

Conference Coverage

2025 DC Plan Summit: Governance framework at the core of CAPSA’s updated guidelines

While good governance practices must be at the core of any pension plan, intricate frameworks are designed to be proportional to the size of the…

Conference Coverage

2025 DC Plan Summit: Making the case for more Canada in DC investment portfolios

Home-country bias is a conversation that ebbs and flows, with U.S. investment returns since the 2008/09 financial crisis reigniting the conversation, said Jon Knowles, institutional…

Conference Coverage

2025 DC Plan Summit: Blend of active and passive leading trends in U.S. DC investment

An emerging trend in U.S. defined contribution investment strategies is the ‘blend trend,’ which is a target-date solution that allocates to underlying building blocks that…

Conference Coverage

2025 DC Plan Summit: Aluminum tariff policy shows misguided U.S. approach against Canada

Amid all of the Canadian industries impacted by tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, targeting the production of aluminum shows a misunderstanding of the…

Conference Coverage

2025 DC Plan Summit: Is there a rising tide lifting all decumulation priorities from an investment perspective?

Rather than a single defined contribution plan sponsor tackling the decumulation dilemma alone, decisions need to be reframed as a decumulation ecosystem, said Nicole Lomax,…

Conference Coverage

2025 DC Plan Summit: A look at the history and beneficial characteristics of target-date funds

Since 2008, when the U.S. enacted legislation allowing target-date funds as the default, total assets in these funds have grown from around US$150 billion to…

Alternative investments

PSP Investments selling 22% stake in airport operator, Ontario Teachers’ buying Scandinavian logistics portfolio

The Public Sector Pension Investment Board is selling a minority stake in AGS Airports to alternative asset manager Blackstone Inc. The deal will give Blackstone…

  • By: Staff
  • April 2, 2025 April 1, 2025
  • 15:00

PSP Investments appointing Caroline Vermette as CFO, Alexandre Roy as chief risk officer

The Public Sector Pension Investment Board is appointing Caroline Vermette as senior vice-president and chief financial officer and Alexandre Roy as senior vice-president and chief…

  • By: Staff
  • March 28, 2025 March 28, 2025
  • 14:30

BCI overseeing $2BN of Four Pillars Society settlement funds

The British Columbia Investment Management Corp. is overseeing $2 billion on behalf of a not-for-profit organization representing the financial interest of 325 First Nations across…

  • By: Staff
  • March 27, 2025 March 24, 2025
  • 11:00

Canadian institutional investors prioritizing liquidity needs in small-cap equity market: report

Canadian institutional investors are prioritizing efficient access to liquidity and high-quality brokerage services in the domestic equity market, according to a new report from Crisil…

  • By: Staff
  • March 27, 2025 March 25, 2025
  • 11:00

Coverage of the 2024 Defined Benefit Investment Forum

On Dec. 6, 2024, leaders from Canada’s defined benefit pension plan sponsor community, alongside thought leaders and investment experts, came together at the Omni King Edward…

2024 Defined Benefit Investment Forum: Canadian economy on high alert for impact of U.S. policy

The Bank of Canada will require another year of its rate-cutting cycle to absorb the number of resources in the economy that aren’t being used…

2024 DB Investment Forum: Unexplored real estate assets offer foundation for strong risk-adjusted returns

Despite the turbulent environment shaped by the coronavirus pandemic, aggressive interest rate hikes and liquidity issues, institutional investors taking a long-term perspective can uncover strong…

Investment volatility increasing scope of pension governance questions: expert

Increased investment volatility could trigger additional questions on the decisions of Canadian pension funds as governance reviews come into focus, says Level Chan, a partner…

Top 5 HR, benefits, pension and investment stories of the week

An article on an Ontario court’s decision that an employer’s return-to-workplace request amounted to constructive dismissal was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week.…

  • By: Staff
  • March 28, 2025 March 27, 2025
  • 09:00

Pension risk transfer sales increase to $5.2BN in Q4 2024: report

The pension risk transfer market achieved a record-breaking demand with $11 billion in deals at the end of 2024, according to a new report from…

  • By: Staff
  • March 26, 2025 March 26, 2025
  • 09:00

Survey finds 67% of U.S. retirement savers concerned about income lasting lifetime

Two-thirds (67 per cent) of U.S. retirement savers are concerned about their income lasting their lifetime, while 30 per cent are extremely or very concerned,…

  • By: Staff
  • April 2, 2025 March 31, 2025
  • 09:00

76% of CAP sponsors prioritizing employee financial resilience, retirement readiness: survey

Three-quarters (76 per cent) of Canadian capital accumulation plan sponsors say employees’ financial resilience and retirement readiness are the main reasons they’re modernizing their plan,…

  • By: Staff
  • March 19, 2025 March 18, 2025
  • 09:00

Top 5 HR, benefits, pension and investment stories of the week

An article on how employers can prepare their benefits plans amid U.S. tariffs was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week. Here are the…

  • By: Staff
  • March 7, 2025 March 6, 2025
  • 09:00

OMERS closes US$1BN term notes offering, Caisse investing in Quebec engineering firm

The Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System is closing a new offering of term notes worth US$1 billion. The notes, which carry a five-year maturity rate,…

  • By: Staff
  • March 26, 2025 March 24, 2025
  • 15:00

Ontario Teachers’ returns 9.4% in 2024

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is reporting a net return of 9.4 per cent for 2024, up from 1.9 per cent in 2023, according to…

  • By: Staff
  • March 21, 2025 March 24, 2025
  • 09:00

PSP Investments buys stake in 407 toll highway, CPPIB gets regulator approval for acquisition of U.S. energy company

The Public Sector Pension Investment Board is buying a 7.51 per cent ownership stake in the 407 Express Toll Route from the Canada Pension Plan…

  • By: Staff
  • March 19, 2025 March 14, 2025
  • 15:00

66% of institutional investors increasing private asset allocations: survey

Two-thirds (66 per cent) of global institutional investors say they plan to increase their private asset allocations over the next five years, according to a…

  • By: Staff
  • March 31, 2025 March 31, 2025
  • 14:30

How DeepSeek is changing the AI value chain, institutional investment space

The emergence of the Chinese artificial intelligence platform DeepSeek-R1 has raised questions on how it will change the AI value chain, from providers to consumers…

OMERS appointing Alexander Fraser as executive vice-president, global head of private equity

The Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System is appointing Alexander Fraser as executive vice-president and global head of private equity, effective March 17. He’ll succeed Michael…

  • By: Staff
  • March 19, 2025 March 13, 2025
  • 15:00

How institutional investors are approaching community bonds

While community bonds, an investment asset offered by not-for-profits looking to raise capital for socially conscious projects, are growing in Canada, they don’t match the…

Institutional investors navigating new challenges, global uncertainty in post-pandemic era

While the coronavirus pandemic is in the world’s rearview mirror, institutional investors are continuing to navigate a post-recovery period rife with uncertainty. Indeed, five years…

Asset owners call on Canadian banks to stick with climate goals

Canadian asset owners representing about $53 billion in holdings say they’re disappointed that Canada’s financial institutions have left net-zero emissions initiatives and are calling for…

Survey finds institutional investors are pushing for increased automation from bond dealers

Institutional investors are looking for bond dealers to invest more in increased automation supported by more data and more application programming interfaces, according to a…

  • By: Staff
  • March 17, 2025 March 13, 2025
  • 15:00

OPTrust returns 9.6% in 2024, remains fully funded

The OPSEU Pension Trust is reporting a return of 9.6 per cent in 2024, according to its latest year-end report. It found, as at Dec.…

  • By: Staff
  • March 14, 2025 March 13, 2025
  • 15:00

HOOPP reports 9.7% return in 2024, net assets increase to $123BN

The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan is reporting a 9.7 per cent return as at Dec. 31, 2024, with net assets increasing to $123 billion,…

  • By: Staff
  • March 13, 2025 March 12, 2025
  • 11:00

Financial market regulators establish committee to implement total cost reporting plan

The Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators is establishing a committee to help implement its total cost reporting plan. The plan aims to increase investor…

  • By: Staff
  • December 15, 2023 December 15, 2023
  • 15:00

Men more likely than women to report reduced stress due to financial wellness programs: survey

More than a quarter (28 per cent) of male employees in the U.S. report a reduction in their stress levels due to their employer’s financial…

  • By: Staff
  • September 25, 2023 September 22, 2023
  • 09:00

Alberta deserves more than half CPP assets if it exits program: report

A report commissioned by the Alberta government estimates the province would be entitled to more than half the assets of the Canada Pension Plan if it…