U.S. public sector defined benefit pension plans that have switched to a defined contribution model have experienced negative cash flows and increased costs and employee turnover, according to a new report by the National Institute on Retirement Security. The report analyzed five public sector pension plans including those in Alaska, Michigan and West Virginia. It […]
The funded ratio of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans in the U.S. dipped from 104 per cent at the end of October to 103 per cent as of Nov. 30, according to Milliman Inc.’s latest public pension funding index. It found as rates fell from 6.2 per cent in October to 5.55 per cent […]
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario’s proposed family rule could allow for pension benefits to be divided more fairly in the event of a marriage breakdown, says Louis Duranleau, a senior principal of pensions at Normandin Beaudry. “When there’s an agreement between the spouses to share the retiree’s pension before it’s effectively divided in […]
An article on how Ontario’s proposed pay transparency legislation will impact employers was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. How Ontario pay transparency legislation will impact employers 2. Expert panel: How interest rates impact DB pension plans 3. How employers can shift younger workers’ ‘soft saving’ […]
Interest rate levels are critically important to the financial health of defined benefit pension plans. Many DB plans are in their best financial positions in decades, largely due to the dramatic rise in interest rates over the past few years, but decreases in interest rates could pose a major risk for many plans. Changes in […]
More than half (53 per cent) of the world’s largest pension funds say the prospect of a global recession is their No. 1 short-term concern and the same percentage expect a recession to take place in the next 12 months, according to a new survey by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. The survey, which […]
The New Brunswick government introduced legislation Wednesday to transfer five of its public sector defined benefit pension plans to shared-risk plans, saying the move will ensure the sustainability of plans that have become unaffordable. “They were not designed to have cases where [employees] might work the same amount of years that [they are] retired,” said […]