This is the second post in a three-part series about the shift among Canadian institutional investors away from the traditional 60/40 asset mix and into alternative investments. In the first post, we examined several recent trends in asset allocation and what they mean for asset managers. In this post, we look at some of the […]
We’ve been called Maple Revolutionaries and the new masters of the universe. For years now, it has been a heady thing to be one of Canada’s largest public sector defined benefit plans. The Canadian model, as it is known, is respected around the world. And the results speak for themselves. Take my own plan, OPTrust. […]
Canadian-based Group Force Benefits has been acquired by New York-based NFP. “As we look to the future of our organization, we searched for a partner with scale that could provide our brokers with enhanced services and attractive succession opportunities,” said a joint statement from Group Force’s leadership team, Carlo Ravenna, Vince Camardo and Michel de […]
If you want something done right, do it yourself. This cliché rings true for more and more pension funds worldwide. Looking to save on investment fees, they’re managing ever-larger chunks of their assets in-house. Last year, 81% of pension funds around the world said they plan to increase the portion of assets they run internally […]
With interest rates bottoming out, Canadian DB plans should look beyond traditional de-risking methods— such as liability-driven investing (LDI)—and consider equities. There are several ways to incorporate equities into a plan’s de-risking framework. Plan sponsors that want more predictability from equities in the early stages of de-risking, for example, might consider strategies that are actively […]
As institutions move into the ETF space, the landscape is changing and some plans are opening up their horizons and considering the broader fixed income universe through an ETF lens. And some smaller institutions are even using them for long-term core holdings. The continuing problem however remains size and liquidity - factors that just aren’t there for many ETFs in the marketplace.
A conversation with Joe Overdevest, portfolio manager at Pyramis Global Advisors After six years as an analyst, Joe Overdevest became a portfolio manager in October 2008. “The first day I took over a portfolio, I had stocks down 15%,” he says. So he bought companies with strong financial positions that would withstand the changing economy, […]
ETFs hit a few important new milestones this year. They turned 25 (the first ETF was born in Toronto in 1989), their assets surpassed those of hedge funds (US$2.97 trillion) and, as of June, more ETF shares had traded hands in one year than the entire U.S. GDP.
Today, alternative investments aren’t as “alternative” as they once were.
Many retail mutual funds and ETFs use derivatives. For insights into the roles played by these instruments, Advisor.ca spoke with Steve Hawkins, CIO and co-CEO of Horizons ETFs Management,and Alain Bergeron, senior vice-president of Investment Management at Mackenzie Investments.