Phishing and ransomware attacks are among the top threats to pension plan sponsors and institutional investors by cyber criminals, according to Jennifer Williams, director of information security at the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. “A common approach by cyber criminals begins with a simple phishing email designed to cause an employee to mistakenly action the […]
Board and executive-level efforts to integrate environmental, social and governance issues into pension plans’ investment strategies are frequently thwarted by unclear guidance from plan sponsors and uncertainty about fiduciary duties, according to a new working paper by the University of Pennsylvania. The paper concluded that efforts to implement ESG criteria in investment decision-making are frequently hamstrung […]
As part of the federal Conservative Party’s platform for the coming election, Leader Erin O’Toole is proposing a plan to secure pensions for Canadian workers. “Canadian workers who have paid into a pension plan on every paycheque should be able to rely on it being there when they retire,” he said in a press release. […]
Pension plan members have super-priority when it comes to normal costs but not to special costs owed to bankrupted plans, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador finds in a recent ruling. In the case, Anthony Capital Corporation (Re), between the trustees of the defunct Anthony Capital Corp.’s executive pension plan and representatives for the […]
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario is seeking feedback on proposed guidance detailing how and when it publishes information about enforcement proceedings and investigations, including those related to pension plans and administrators. According to the draft guidance, this includes the use of news releases and public postings of enforcement actions on the FSRA’s website […]
The past year and a half has been characterized by marked change. The move to remote work, industry layoffs and the desire for more robust support left plan sponsors and consultants rapidly altering the ways they work together. Certain trends, such as virtual care, mental-health support, changing retirement needs and industry consolidation have slowly been […]
The government of Newfoundland and Labrador is amending funding rules for the province’s multi-employer pension plans. The amendments include a permanent exemption from solvency funding requirements for MEPPs, retroactive to Dec. 31, 2020, when the previous temporary exemption ended. In addition, going-concern unfunded liabilities must now be funded over 10 years instead of the previous […]
More than two-thirds (69 per cent) of registered defined benefit pensions plans in Ontario have solvency ratios above 100 per cent, according to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario’s second quarterly update. The report found average funded ratios were up for the fifth consecutive quarter, with the median funded ratio reaching 106 per cent […]
The University Pension Plan has selected CIBC Mellon to provide asset servicing, investment operations and plan member services, including custody, institutional accounting, performance and analytics, risk, compliance and pension benefit payment services. The jointly sponsored pension plan, which was launched on July 1, currently covers employees at Queen’s University, the University of Guelph and the University of Toronto, with […]
Despite market upheaval as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Canadian pension risk transfer market had its third-best year for group annuity transactions, according to Eckler Ltd.’s latest report. By the end of 2020, pension risk transfer market transactions totalled $4.45 billion, only slightly behind 2018’s $4.5 billion but below 2019’s $5.2 billion, noted the report. […]