Women made up nearly half (47.7 per cent) of Canada’s workforce in 2016, according to figures from Statistics Canada, marking a noteworthy rise on 1976’s 37.3 per cent. While that’s good news for the labour force in general, women continue to come up short in some sectors, including financial services. Camilla Sutton, president and chief […]
On Oct. 17, 2018, it will be legal to purchase and consume recreational cannabis in Canada. In a recent survey of Mercer’s employer clients and Canadian employees, we found 78 per cent of respondents believe the legalization of recreational cannabis is a concern for human resources leaders. In addition, nearly half (45 per cent) of respondents believe it’s a concern for […]
SEI Investments Canada Co. has appointed Lucy Paglione as senior client portfolio manager. In the new role, Paglione will be responsible for managing relationships with the firm’s Canadian defined benefit pension and non-profit employer clients. Her focus will be on the firm’s outsourced chief investment officer services, building custom investment strategies for those clients. Read: Assets managed by U.S. […]
One-third of Canadian employers feel prepared for the impending legalization of cannabis, according to a new survey by Mercer Canada. The survey, which polled 366 Canadian employers and more than 1,000 employees, found another third feels somewhat prepared and 27 per cent of employees feel their employer is ready. Among leadership, 78 per cent of human resources leaders, […]
The job of a pension consultant has evolved considerably over Bita Jenab’s 30-year career in the field. The mid-1990s saw a greater focus on governance and the arrival of the investment consultant, while the 2000s featured a mass move to defined contribution plans and significant changes to pension legislation. Through all of that, plan sponsors […]
The job of a pension consultant has evolved considerably over Bita Jenab’s 30-year career in the field. The mid-1990s saw a greater focus on governance and the arrival of the investment consultant, while the 2000s featured a mass move to defined contribution plans and significant changes to pension legislation. Through all of that, plan sponsors […]
In February, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board flipped the script on fixed income by issuing its own bonds rather than purchasing them. The move to issue one billion euros’ worth of 15-year bonds at a 1.5 per cent fixed annual coupon marked the second time it had released euro-denominated bonds. In June 2017, it […]
The National Pension Hub is awarding funding to three research projects, focusing on themes like portfolio construction and plan design. The hub, which the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services created in October 2017, is a Canadian centre for pension knowledge and research. One research project, which will be led by Stephen Bonnar, a post-doctoral fellow, and Douglas […]
Canada’s defined benefit pension plans saw continued improvements in their solvency positions during the second quarter of 2018, according to Mercer’s latest pension health index. Representing the solvency of a hypothetical plan, the index stood at 107 per cent as of June 29, 2018, up one percentage point from the end of the first quarter. […]
In the wake of the tragic shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., earlier this year that left 17 dead and sparked a renewed and vigorous debate about gun control, certain members of the investment world took swift action. BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest institutional investor with US$6.3 trillion under management as of the […]