It’s important for institutional investors to view risk mitigation as a way to improve the risk-return proposition and not as a way to express a bearish view on markets, said Rémi Tétreault, associate vice-president at Trans-Canada Capital Inc., during the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2024 Global Investment Conference in April. “It’s about performing well in a […]
While real assets are largely absent among the investment options offered by Canadian defined contribution pension plans, they can offer significant long-term benefits to plan members, said Andrew Knox, managing director of Franklin Templeton Investments’ global real assets fund, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2024 DC Plan Summit in February. “[Defined contribution] investors in […]
The funded ratio of the average Canadian defined benefit pension plan, excluding the effect of asset smoothing, reached 124 per cent as at March 31, 2024, up seven per cent from the fourth quarter of 2023, according to a new report by Normandin Beaudry. It found the average solvency ratio of Canadian pension plans was […]
Simply put, a glide path is a calculation designed to support an employee’s desired retirement timeline through investments in a target-date fund. When an employee first joins a defined contribution pension plan with a target-date fund, they’re exposed to capital appreciation assets that offer the most attractive risk-adjusted returns in the wealth accumulation phase, typically […]
Global pension assets increased by 11 per cent to reach US$55.7 trillion in 2023, up from $50.2 trillion at the end of 2022, according to a new report by WTW’s Thinking Ahead Institute. This growth was attributed to stronger capital market performance following a much more negative impact from markets in the correction of 2022, […]
The average projected solvency ratio for Ontario defined benefit pension plans was 119 per cent as of Dec. 31, 2023, up two per cent from Sept. 30, 2023, according to a new report by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. It found the median projected solvency ratio exceeded 100 per cent for 12 consecutive […]
The Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System returned 4.6 per cent in 2023, or $5.6 billion, in investment income in 2023, according to its latest year-end report. It found as of Dec. 31, 2023, the plan’s net assets stood at $128.6 billion, up from $124.2 billion in 2022. It also reported a funded status of 97 per […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is reporting a net return of 7.2 per cent for 2023, with net assets increasing to $434 billion. The investment organization’s year-end report said public equities returned 17.7 per cent in 2023, driven by large U.S. technology stocks as well as growth stocks and the Caisse’s large […]
After the simultaneous sell-off of both equities and bonds in the first half of 2022, many defined benefit pension plan sponsors were forced to “pay much more attention to the liquidity profiles of their portfolios” and manage risk by implementing a temporary policy reprieve, halting new investment activity or selling assets in the secondary market, […]
Institutional investors are preparing for a bumpy return risk space where volatility is higher for all assets and real returns are much lower than what has been the norm over the past 10 years, said Robertas Stancikas, a senior research associate of institutional solutions at AllianceBernstein, during the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2023 Investment Innovation Conference in […]