After the economic turmoil that defined 2008 and decimated assets in many pension plans, few expected the turnaround in markets that occurred in 2009. In last year’s Top 100 Pension Funds Report, 66 of the funds on the list posted double-digit increases in assets for 2009. Only eight ended the year with decreases. While many […]
While the budget delivered positive news for the economic growth of Canada (the federal finances are in better shape now than they were when the previous budget document was tabled in March), there was no additional update to the state of pension reform in Canada—which is concerning to some. Working with the pooled registered pension […]
Statistics Canada reported in its Pension Plans in Canada survey that, in 2006, just under 220,000 Canadians were members of small registered pension plans (plans with fewer than 100 members). This compares to large registered pension plans, each with 1,000 or more members, totalling more than 4.4 million members in Canada. In the 15 years […]
Pension plans and the issue of who has (or does not have) them has become a hot topic in Canada. As the populations of developed economies—including Canada—grow older and the ratio of workers to retirees drops, it is natural that governments and individuals start to discuss how the older members of the population will provide […]
Politics plays an important role in pension reform, and always has ever since Otto Von Bismarck introduced the first old age pension in 1889. Apparently a major motivation for Bismarck’s conservative government to introduce this pension was to reduce the attractiveness of socialism. Maybe the current initiatives are Bismarck phase II. But it isn’t just […]
A federal budget that attempted to balance the government’s determination to eliminate the deficit by 2015 and the need to attract opposition support offered little new for the country’s ongoing pension reform debate. In delivering the budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty made mention of the government’s commitment to advancing the planned pooled retirement pension plan […]
The Quebec government is getting kudos from the industry for being the first province to introduce a new pension program for workers that lack private plans. The provincial budget, tabled on Thursday, proposes a voluntary retirement savings plan (VRSP), which according to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) is based on the pooled […]
Recently OMERS CEO Michael Nobrega suggested that pension funds should also be permitted to compete with banks and insurance companies when it comes to pooled registered pension plans (PRPPs). Benefits Canada followed up with an story and online poll asking “Should large pension plans be permitted to administer the new pooled retirement pension plans?” At […]
Take our poll on the issue. This week, Michael Nobrega, CEO of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, went on the record saying that the government should open up the administration of the new pooled registered pension plans (PRPPs) to more than just “regulated financial institutions.” “Right now, it’s insurance companies and the banks,” Nobrega […]
While the federal government’s proposed pooled registered pension plan (PRPP) has its critics, pension plan sponsors welcome the relief that it could afford them, according to the latest MorneauShepell 60 Second Survey. Among the 79 participating organizations, the survey found 74% were considering adopting a PRPP because it would allow them to offload fiduciary liability […]