In 2022, normal was supposed to make a comeback — it didn’t. Just as supply chains began to stabilize, war broke out in Europe, China invaded Taiwan’s waters, inflation skyrocketed and central banks began hiking interest rates. While investments in renewable energy infrastructure reached new highs, economies that had been moving away from fossil fuels […]
Alongside a potential recession and lower global economic growth looming in 2023, defined benefit pension plan sponsors have several tools to minimize the impact of rising inflation, said Eric Menzer, senior portfolio manager and global head of outsourced chief investment officer and fiduciary solutions and multi-asset solutions at Manulife Investment Management, during a session at […]
The climate crisis puts the security of workers’ retirements at stake, said Patrick DeRochie, senior manager at Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health, during a session at the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2022 Risk Management Conference. Pension plan sponsors’ investment decisions and their ability to achieve adequate returns for their members depends on a […]
Risk misperception is inherent in humans and has been since stone-aged men and women first roamed the earth, said Dan Gardner, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, during the Canadian Investment Review’s 2022 Risk Management Conference. People possess two systems that help them make decisions, he […]
Responsible investing covers a spectrum between simple exclusion practices to environmental, social and governance integration to thematic and impact investing, said Les Marton, managing director of bfinance Canada Inc., while moderating a panel discussion at the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2022 Risk Management Conference. The two panellists — Karen Lockridge, director of ESG investing at the […]
An article on virtual health-care findings in the 2022 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. 88% of benefits plan sponsors satisfied with virtual health-care offerings: BCHS 2. OTG Management using earned-wage access cards to help employees contend with […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management and the Pension Investment Association of Canada are among the organizations saying proposed amendments to the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act could negatively impact defined benefit pension plans. In an open letter to the House of Commons standing committee on finance, the ACPM and the PIAC — along with […]
International Business Machines Corp. is entering a US$16 billion pension risk transfer. The annuity transaction will see 40 per cent of IBM’s defined benefit pension plan’s liabilities transferred. The Prudential Insurance Co. of America and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. will each insure half of the payments for 100,000 IBM plan participants and beneficiaries. Prudential will […]
The world’s largest pension funds saw assets increase by 8.9 per cent in 2021, according to a report by WTW’s the Thinking Ahead Institute. The report, which drew on data from the 300 largest pension funds in the world, found these funds’ combined assets under management reached US$23.6 trillion by the end of 2021. The […]
While global institutional investors expect losses to continue in the fixed income market and are concerned that central banks may be too optimistic on the peak of inflation, they’re also finding good news in alternative investments and the importance of environmental, social and governance factors, according to a new report by Aeon Investments. The report, […]