A majority (79 per cent) of institutional investors see a global economic slowdown as the top threat to their portfolios in the next 12 months, according to a new survey by Schroders. Prompted by coronavirus-related concerns, it’s a big jump from the 49 per cent of respondents that said the same in 2019. Those concerns are also […]
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is opening a new office in Singapore to enhance its capabilities in Asia Pacific. As of the end of 2019, the plan had more than 30 employees in the region and about $15 billion invested there across public equity, private equity and infrastructure. “Expanding our presence in Asia is critical to […]
Since retirees and active plan members are fundamentally different, should their investment options reflect that distinction? That’s the question confronting defined contribution plan sponsors as they explore the relatively new world of in-plan decumulation. As of January, when the Ontario government passed a series of new regulations under the Pension Benefits Act, the majority of […]
Environmental, social and governance issues are key for many Canadian pension plans, but taking meaningful action is easier said than done, especially at small and mid-sized organizations. With a team of about 30 people, the University of Toronto Asset Management Corp. managed more than $11 billion of the university’s endowment, pension plan and short-term working […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, alongside existing investors, is investing $US185 million in subscription commerce platform AppDirect Inc. The funding brings the total equity raised to about $US465 million. Since its first funding round in 2015, the U.S.-based company has experienced tremendous growth, increasing gross merchandise value more than 1,500 per cent, expanding […]
The Shareholder Association for Research and Education and Groupe Investissement Responsable Inc. are creating a joint venture to provide proxy voting services to institutional investors across Canada. The partnership establishes a new corporation called GIR that will purchase the proxy voting businesses of both organizations, as well as the operations of the previous Groupe Investissement […]
The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System’s venture capital arm, OMERS Ventures, is participating in a series-A funding round for Klue, a Vancouver-based competitive enablement company, which it also backed at the seed stage. Klue helps companies better understand their competition by collecting and curating competitive intelligence, combining information available on the Internet with knowledge from […]
The world’s 300 largest pension funds saw their assets under management increase in value by eight per cent in 2019, to a total value of US$19.5 trillion, according to new research by Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Institute. This is compared to a 0.4 per cent decline in the value of assets in 2018. “Overall, […]
Real estate, a long-time stable, returns-generating asset class for pension plans, may no longer be as solid due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. “A pretty traditional asset class for pension plans may have been in office and retail, but one of the changes that’s happened is [the move to] remote working,” said Barbara Zvan, […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is appointing Edwin Cass as its first-ever chief investment officer. In the new role, he’ll be responsible for total fund management, including capital allocation between investment programs, long-term investment department signals, medium- and near-term portfolio guidance and balance sheet management. “Our investment governance structure has served CPP Investments well […]