Despite the low interest rate environment, it still makes sense for defined benefit pension plan sponsors to adopt a liability-driven investment strategy, said Serge Lapierre, global head of LDI at Manulife Investment Management, during a webinar sponsored by the firm on Monday. LDI investing is a risk management framework, he noted. “It’s not an asset […]
The private equity market was on a hot streak coming into 2020 and despite the economic wreckage caused by the coronavirus, fundraising has generally held up, said Jamie Becker, counsel for private equity and pension fund investments at Torys LLP, when speaking at the Canadian Investment Review’s 2020 Global Investment Conference in September. “There was […]
As institutional investors increase allocations to alternative investments, it becomes increasingly challenging to understand risk. A new paper, co-authored by Spencer Couts, assistant professor of real estate at the University of Southern California; Andrei S. Goncalves, an assistant professor of finance at the University of North Carolina; and Andrea Rossi, an assistant professor of finance […]
In a market rocked by a considerable increase in cross-asset volatility, the need to search for alternative means of diversification that embrace different sources of risk and return is crucial. One solution for pension plan sponsors to consider is investing in insurance-linked securities. Often a misunderstood and underutilized asset class, insurance-linked securities are investments whose […]
For the second year in a row, Canada ranked No. 8 among developed nations for retiree well-being, according to Natixis Investment Managers’ annual global retirement index. The index, which provides an overview of the relative well-being and financial security of retirees in 44 countries, examined 18 factors across four categories: finances in retirement, material well-being, […]
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 […]
The vast majority of investors (82 per cent) are satisfied with how their portfolios performed in the first half of 2020, despite some weak results in strategies such as emerging market debt and smart beta, according to a new study of 368 investors with combined assets of approximately US$11 trillion. Following the quickest equity market […]
The rallying cry that China is simply too significant a part of the world’s economy to leave out of a well-diversified portfolio is about to be last year’s cliché. For the moment, the country remains the second largest economic engine in the world, but its stunning growth in just the past few years has investors […]
While the coronavirus crisis is impacting many real assets, people still require food and therefore still require farmland. The asset class is a stable one and a long-term diversifier, says Bernice Miedzinski, president of StarBridge Capital Ltd., noting the current low-interest rate environment is challenging. “Even thinking about a plain vanilla strategy, investing in Canadian […]
Much debate remains about whether private equity is an appropriate option for members of capital accumulation plans. Canada’s neighbours to the south have been examining the potential legal pitfalls of these allocations. A recent information letter from the U.S. department of labor set forth a framework plan sponsors can use to consider the prudence of […]