Amazon.com is facing a lawsuit that claims the company violated U.S. federal law by using nearly US$350 million in forfeited 401(k) funds to offset the company’s own contributions rather than to reduce administrative fees for plan participants, according to a report by Reuters. In December, Cory Curtis, an employee of the online retail company, filed a […]
With the start of a new year, there are several developments and trends that will likely impact Canadian pension plan sponsors in 2025. Implementation of regulatory guidelines In September 2024, the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities published a new guideline for risk management for plan administrators and an update to their guideline for capital […]
According to Statistics Canada, 80 per cent of Canadian public sector workers benefit from a respectable, life-long pension. However, for many private sector employees the quality of the pension plan available to them leaves much to be desired. The typical private sector pension is a defined contribution plan, which means employees bear the risk of […]
The keynote session at Benefits Canada’s 2024 Defined Contribution Investment Forum warned that the failure to plan for the ‘boomer bulge’ is affecting private and public pension policy. The presentation from Paul Kershaw, a policy professor at the University of British Columbia and founder of not-for-profit organization Generation Squeeze, got me thinking: if the influx […]
As gig workers make up a greater share of the Canadian workforce, a lack of retirement savings options may leave this growing demographic facing financial insecurity in their senior years. According to data from Statistics Canada, 871,000 Canadians performed gig work as their primary job in the fourth quarter of 2022. Among those gig workers, […]
Amendments to the federal Pension Benefits Standards Act must go beyond reporting transparency and clarify how additional disclosure requirements help monitor the health of Canadian pension plans, said the Pension Investment Association of Canada. In an open letter to Finance Canada, the PIAC said if current data collection processes for federally regulated plans aren’t achieving […]
While global pension plan sponsors’ assets grew by 10 per cent to reach US$63.1 trillion in 2023, this value is still five per cent lower than in 2021, according to a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It found this growth was largely attributed to gains in equity markets last year […]
With 15 different client organizations, including nine public sector pension plans, the Alberta Investment Management Corp. has opted to engage, rather than divest, from certain investments, particularly those in the energy sector. “One of the things we were very clear on, both for ourselves and in talking to clients, is that divestment wasn’t the way […]
The Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities’ guideline for risk management provides that plan administrators should create a framework to identify, evaluate, manage and monitor their plan’s material risks. The guideline encourages plan administrators to prepare a written statement with the plan’s risk appetite, risk tolerance and risk limits and that these elements are reflected […]
An article on why employers that mandate onsite work could see increased employee turnover was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week. Here are the top five human resources, benefits, pension and investment stories of the last week: 1. Employers mandating onsite work may see exodus of skilled employees: expert 2. 69% of Canadian workers experiencing symptoms […]