Since standard banks began to shy away from their traditional financing role after the 2008 financial crisis, institutional investors have helped maintain markets by becoming increasingly important providers of long-term capital. Historically low interest rates also pushed these sovereign wealth and pension funds away from the traditional fixed income bedrock of their portfolios into a bevy […]
The Nova Scotia government is moving forward with changes to its regulatory framework for defined benefit pension plans. The province’s new framework follows a review launched in September 2017 and a summary of feedback released in April 2018. It’s still seeking input on technical issues, identified in the paper, in order to determine the best road forward […]
The Canadian pension industry must go beyond the defined benefit versus defined contribution debate and focus on the model of the future, according to a new report by the C.D. Howe Institute. The report, by actuaries and pension experts Robert Brown and Stephen A. Eadie, proposes a common ground as a starting point for all […]
Plan administrators are welcoming the increased clarity accompanying the amendment of Ontario’s Pension Benefits Act to allow for the electronic designation of beneficiaries and the re-issue of the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities’ guideline No. 2, which establishes best practices for electronic communications in the pension industry. “Clarity on the ability to designate beneficiaries electronically […]
Generally, when a pension plan goes through a solvency or hypothetical windup valuation, the actuaries will value some of the expected liabilities as commuted lump-sum payments and some as annuity payments. When valuing the annuity portion, plan actuaries often use a proxy method based on guidance from the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. Instead of this […]
Canada’s public sector pension plans are well-respected internationally for their administration, independent governance, investments, regulation and plan design. And British Columbia’s municipal pension plan is no exception. The plan’s members include firefighters, police, nurses and other health-care workers, city workers, non-teaching staff at schools and colleges, community social service providers, and more — people who are […]
While a Calgary councillor’s proposal to review all municipal pensions was passed to a city committee for further study in late April, local unions are still concerned. Councillor George Chahal, who put forward the proposal, says the city should review its pensions because the related costs for both unionized and non-union workers are rising at double the rate […]
An outsourced chief investment officer provides external expertise that can ease the minds of plan sponsors overwhelmed by pension management decisions. While the services have traditionally been used by defined benefit plans, do they translate to defined contribution plan management? John Jenner, vice-president of finance at Electrozad: Although today’s world is geographically the same size […]
With a defined benefit plan closed since 1991, Husky Energy Inc. was facing a dilemma. It wanted to annuitize the plan but had active members still accruing benefits and wasn’t ready for a complete windup. To the organization’s knowledge, no products were available in Canada for plans to provide an annuity for active members still […]
While defined benefit plans are traditionally known for their paternalism, defined contribution pensions represent the next generation. Learning from their parents’ years of investment experience, DC plans are catching up, but hurdles still exist in the quest to invest like DB plans. The liquidity question As more DC plan sponsors consider adding illiquid alternatives to […]