After last year’s strong market returns, should pension funds put the brakes on low-volatility strategies?
Benchmark-oriented active managers will fall behind.
After a strong year for active managers in 2013, 31% of large cap managers were able to beat the S&P/TSX Composite Index in the first quarter of 2014, down from 86% in the previous quarter.
In an environment where plan members don’t always understand their retirement arrangements, may be frustrated with market volatility and aren’t adequately preparing for retirement, DC plan sponsors are on the lookout for new ways to help members mitigate risk and increase returns. Our annual DC Investment Forum explored some of these strategies.
Ari Kaplan wrote the book on pension law. Literally. His book, Pension Law, was first published in 2006, and a second edition, co-authored with Mitch Frazer of Torys LLP, is due out this fall. When Kaplan started out as an associate at Koskie Minsky LLP, there wasn’t a lot of reference material on pension law from an academic or resource perspective. He did his master’s degree in law shortly after joining the firm, focusing on pension administration and regulation. “From that, I thought I had the kernel of an outline of a book.”
At the centre of every pension plan is a team of professionals—actuaries, administrators, governance officers, consultants, trustee managers—who are commissioned to weave a tapestry that will lead to a picture of retirement health. Not everyone agrees on plan or principle, but there’s one thing they have in common: they look to the industry for object […]
Why John Poos needs to think a few strokes ahead to get the career he deserves
The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) is like the ant in Aesop’s fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper.” While others were enjoying market returns, HOOPP was preparing for the future.
The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) is like the ant in Aesop’s fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper.” While others were enjoying market returns, HOOPP was preparing for the future. After years of strong financial markets, HOOPP’s investment team, led by Jim Keohane, decided to pull $6 billion out of equities to prepare for a potential market downturn. When shortly after that move in 2007 the figurative winter hit, HOOPP was one of the few pension plans to report positive results for the two-year period of 2008/09. The plan’s 15.2% return in 2009 more than offset the 12.0% loss of 2008. Many other plans were left out in the cold—much like Aesop’s grasshopper.
Scott Perkin fondly recalls his appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance in 2010. The Canadian pension landscape was being shaken by funding challenges, record-low interest rates and the protest in September of that year by Nortel pensioners angered by the windup of their $2.5-billion underfunded plan. As president of The Association of Canadian Pension Management (ACPM), Perkin expected he’d be asked to outline the association’s position on one or two topics. Instead, committee members peppered him with questions on a host of issues.