When the coronavirus pushed equity markets off a cliff, Canadian defined benefit pension plans had to mobilize to address a number of concerns. The Canadian National Railway Co. pension recently shifted towards a more defensive investment strategy, said Marlene Puffer, president and chief executive officer for the CN investment division of the company, at a […]
When the coronavirus pushed equity markets off a cliff, Canadian defined benefit pension plans had to mobilize to address a number of concerns. The Canadian National Railway Co. pension recently shifted towards a more defensive investment strategy, said Marlene Puffer, president and chief executive officer for the CN investment division of the company, at a webinar […]
With the coronavirus-induced shutdown causing ripples in public and private markets alike, infrastructure assets took a hit in the first quarter of 2020 — and the worst may still be coming. According to data from the EDHEC Infrastructure Institute, infrastructure assets experienced a sharp drop in returns in the quarter. The decline was driven by […]
In the current market environment, institutional investors worried about cash management want advance notice of when capital calls are coming, says Stuart Waugh, managing partner at Northleaf Capital Partners. In response, Northleaf has created a new matrix to help institutional investors. “We actually built a matrix of all of our investors across all of our […]
The novel coronavirus has brought with it an unprecedented shuttering of the global economy and an equally unprecedented policy response. The speed and scale at which central bankers and politicians have moved has already surpassed anything seen during the credit crisis. On the monetary policy front, we have seen rates cut to zero, the announcement […]
The U.S. dollar is overvalued and, if history has any lessons for investors, it’s that the dollar is set for a multi-year fall, according to Mondrian Investment Partners Ltd. “The way that we look at currencies generally is to take a valuation approach,” says Kevin Fenwick, portfolio manager for global fixed income and currency at […]
Against a backdrop of uncertainty, the OPSEU Pension Trust is guided by an investment strategy with certainty at its core. In 2015, the plan introduced what it calls a member-driven investing strategy, which is all about efficient risk allocation and earning the returns required to pay pensions at the lowest possible risk. “That’s different from […]
TD Asset Management Inc. is launching a new fund to meet the needs of institutional investors looking for exposure to global real estate markets. The fund, which includes both direct and indirect global real estate investments, was seeded in 2019 and has exposure to more than 600 properties in approximately 15 countries. It includes office, […]
When news hit that the U.S. military had carried out an attack that killed Qasem Soleimani, the major general of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, institutional investors watched as markets saw something of a flight to safety. Gold is currently hovering near a five-year high. Brent crude spiked to close to US$71 off the back of the […]
There are many reasons for pension plans to consider exposure to liquid alternatives, but the first step is understanding the asset class. Simply, liquid alternatives are alternative assets, such as currency, commodities or emerging market debt, which are available in liquid forms, as well as alternative strategies like long-short investment strategies, says Michael Sager, vice-president […]